Home Sweet Home
by Dogstar-Black
Summary: After the alien invasion is over, and Loki is gone, the Avengers have to see if they can learn to trust and work with one another so they can continue saving the world. And maybe one of their own. Team-bonding/friendship story. Prequel to Protective Reasoning. Tony/Pepper; slight Clint/Natasha
1. Chapter 1

**Alright everybody, welcome to the first chapter of Home Sweet Home. I still can't seem to come up with good titles for these things. Anyway, to the people who are coming here from Protective Reasoning, popular vote said this was coming first. For the people who voted for the other story, rest assured that it will be coming directly after this one.**

**If you are new to my Avengers stories, this is a prequel to my story Protective Reasoning. Give it a read if you want.**

**This chapter gave me a bit of trouble, and I know a lot happens in it. I swear it will get better after this. I plan on giving you all a good look into how the friendships you saw in Protective Reasoning came about.**

**So please read and review, and give me your feedback, suggestions whatever. And know that I respond to all reviews I get, unless you review as a guest. But I read and appreciate every single one.**

**Please enjoy.**

**As always, I own nothing.**

* * *

"Tony, you don't have to do this." Bruce spoke hesitantly as he climbed out of the billionaire's car in front of the heavily damaged Stark Tower.

They'd just gotten back from seeing off Thor and Loki, and the Avengers had gone their separate ways. Bruce had been prepared to find his way back to India, or maybe Africa this time around, but Tony had been quick to offer him both room and lab in his Tower. While the offer was _very_ tempting, Bruce hadn't been sure that he wanted to put his new friend into the danger that was his constant companion. But Tony had all but pleaded, and in the end convinced him to stay for just a few days to 'test the waters' so to speak.

Even so, Bruce wanted to make sure that Tony knew he should in no way feel obligated to offer him anything at all. Much less the kindness of food and shelter when it was perfectly possible that he could destroy what was left of the Tower if the Other Guy made an appearance. True, he had _that_ part of himself under control now more than ever, but it was still a very big risk for Tony to be taking.

"Bruce, seriously." the billionaire rolled his eyes as he waited for the other man on the steps leading up to the Tower doors, a smirk firmly in place. "I _want_ to give you a place to stay, alright? You can't tell me that you _like_ staying on that tin can Fury calls a base-in-the-sky with all those beady little eyes staring at you like you're going to snap and kill them all."

"In their defense, it's a valid possibility." Bruce said dryly, grabbing his duffle bag that held his small array of possessions. He had been staying on SHIELD's helicarrier in the few days since the invasion had actually happened. But he was pretty sure after what had happened during the attack on the helicarrier, he wasn't very welcome there. Or anywhere else near a SHIELD base.

Tony scoffed and rolled his eyes as he turned to go into the building, Bruce following behind with a slow shake of his head at the younger man's actions.

Tony Stark was the only man Bruce had ever met to be so indifferent about the Other Guy. Part of him thought the billionaire was crazy, or had some inherent death wish because of it. He wasn't going to lie to himself and pretend that it wasn't nice to finally have someone look at him without fear in their eyes, though.

"Anyway." Tony changed the subject as they walked through the building lobby, bypassing every security checkpoint with a cheery wave and complete ignorance of the confused looks Bruce was being sent. The doctor suspected it might have something to do with the fact that he didn't think Tony Stark was one to play well with others, by his own admission. "The top floors of the Tower are really the only ones that got damaged in our little brawl. They're already undergoing repairs, but until they're done I've got a temporary apartment floor you can stay on. Luckily, the labs didn't take much damage, but I'm going ahead and taking the opportunity to just turn the top four floors into our own little Avenger's area, including giving our labs an update. I'll show you more of the plans when we get upstairs."

Bruce listened to Tony talk, feeling slightly overwhelmed the second the man mentioned that he could stay on an apartment _floor_. They'd stepped onto what was apparently a private elevator, seeing as it took a passcode to enter.

'_Good afternoon, Mr. Stark.'_ a disembodied voice came from above, making Bruce look up in confusion. _'Should I tell Ms. Potts to expect you and Dr. Banner to be arriving?'_

"Yes, JARVIS." Tony said easily, before catching on to his companion's expression. "JARVIS is my AI. He's basically everywhere in the Tower and hooked up to everything electronic. He'll also help you with pretty much whatever you need, so don't be afraid to ask."

'_Of course. It would be my pleasure to assist you Dr. Banner.'_ the disembodied voice agreed, and Bruce couldn't help but be impressed, an expression that Tony also noticed, and made him chuckle.

"This, my friend, is just the tip of the ice burg." he said, throwing an arm around the doctor's shoulders.

Bruce almost jumped at the contact before forcing himself to relax, giving his head a quick shake of amazement. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had willingly gotten so close to him.

When the elevator doors opened up, Bruce glanced over what he could see of the floor. There was a kitchen almost directly in front of them, a large window with couches nearby to the right and a short hallway and doorway to the left. There was a blonde woman seated on one of the couches, laptop in her lap and talking into her phone.

"No, Leroy, at this time Stark Industries is not looking to invite any second parties into the development of the technology." she was saying, sounding somewhat exasperated, looking up and grinning when she saw Tony making a beeline for where she was sitting. "Yes, I'll let you know if Mr. Stark reconsiders, but I wouldn't hold your breath for it."

Bruce came forward slowly, looking around himself, slightly uncomfortable. He stopped at the edge of the circle of couches, standing awkwardly as Tony plopped down beside the woman that was finishing up her phone call.

"And how are you today, Ms. Potts?" Tony questioned once she had set aside both phone and laptop, looking to him.

"Annoyed." she answered matter of factly, accepting the kiss on the cheek before glaring at him. "How many times do I have to tell you to get those reports back to me, Tony?"

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but I've been a bit busy with the whole aftermath of the 'saving the world' thing lately." he retorted easily, before casting a smirk at Bruce. "Pepper, this' Dr. Bruce Banner."

"Oh." she looked up to him quickly, and mentally Bruce prepared himself for the tension and fear that usually accompanied him meeting new people. Instead, he blinked slightly when she just stood to greet him, holding out her hand. "Dr. Banner, it's a pleasure to meet you. I hope Tony hasn't been driving you too crazy."

Bruce felt himself give a small, almost hesitant smile, taking her offered hand and giving it a quick shake. He was amazed to see a little caution in her eyes, but no fear, which was certainly leaps and bounds better than what he usually saw. He'd just have to be careful not to give her any reason to let that caution escalate.

"It's a pleasure as well, Ms. Potts. And no, not today at any rate." he offered another grin and the woman chuckled knowingly.

"Hey, I'm right here, you know." Tony protested crossing his arms over his chest in a pout, before he leapt to his feet. "Come on, Bruce, I'll show you the lab."

Before he could reach where the doctor was standing, Pepper stepped in front of him, reaching out to put a hand on his chest.

"No. You're going to go get those reports looked over before you get head over heels into some project. _I_ will show Dr. Banner his room while you do that, and _then_ you can scamper off to the lab." she said matter of factly, no room for argument in her tone.

"But Pepper," Tony started, and she silenced him with a look that had him huffing as he sent Bruce a pleading look.

"Don't look at me." the doctor raised his hands in surrender, not wanting to get into the middle of anything within ten minutes of arriving at the tower.

"Traitor." Tony accused, before sighing and taking the papers Pepper directed him to. "Fine, fine. Jeeze what are you, my mother? I was pretty sure you were like my girlfriend or something." he muttered under his breath.

Pepper snorted and rolled her eyes with a smile, before waving Bruce back towards the elevator.

"I'm sorry about that." she said to him as she pressed a button and the doors closed. "But if I don't get him to do it now, trust me when I say that it won't get done."

"No, that's fine." Bruce said quickly, fixing the strap to his duffle bag on his shoulder somewhat awkwardly. "Thanks for letting me stay here."

"It's no problem at all, Dr. Banner." Pepper said lightly, stepping forward as the elevator doors opened. "You've got this floor all to yourself."

Bruce followed her, looking around in surprise. It looked almost identical to the one Tony and Pepper were on, complete with kitchen and multiple couches. There was a lot of room, and Bruce had absolutely no idea what he was going to do with himself. The last few years he'd made do with whatever shelter he could find, and it was certainly never this luxurious.

"The kitchen's stocked with the basics, and if there's anything you want, just let JARVIS know, and he'll put it on the list for the next delivery. Of course, you're always welcome to join Tony and I if you want." Pepper continued, giving him a kind smile. "I'll give you some time to get settled in because Lord knows Tony's going to be coming to get you as soon as he's done."

"Alright, thank you." Bruce nodded, agreeing with her statement, but finding that somehow the billionaire's enthusiasm didn't bother him. He was a little excited to see what the man had referred to as 'Candyland' as well. What SHIELD had let him use on the helicarrier had been the closest thing to a real lab he'd used in years.

Pepper gave him another smile before stepping back into the elevator, and Bruce wandered down the short hallway into the bedroom. The lights came on automatically as he entered, which made him give a blink of surprise before he simply gave an amazed shake of his head and continued to set his bag down on the huge bed across from the door. To the right was another doorway that he assumed led into a bathroom, and to the left was a window that looked out over the city, with a view of the Empire State Building. Of course, the area still looked like an alien army had gone through it, but he supposed that was to be expected.

It didn't take him long to unpack, seeing as he didn't have that many possessions in the first place, and once he had everything put neatly away, he simply sat back on one of the couches and allowed himself to look around in unmasked awe, wondering how in the world he had ended up staying in Stark Tower.

When the elevator sounded, he looked to it curiously only to grin when Tony's head popped in, followed shortly by the rest of him.

"How do you like your new digs, Banner?" the billionaire asked flippantly, all but falling down onto the couch across from the doctor.

"It's great, Tony, really." Bruce said sincerely. "When you said you had a room for me, I wasn't expecting an entire floor."

The other man just shrugged before unexpectedly rolling to his feet again, eyes brightening in excitement.

"Well, come on. I believe I mentioned something about some science before we were so rudely interrupted by Pepper and her _paperwork_." Tony made a face that caused Bruce to chuckle, standing to follow him back into the elevator again. "Like I said, my main lab is being renovated and being checked for structural damage and silly things like that, but there's a smaller private one down one floor."

"Right, silly things." Bruce scoffed, with a roll of his eyes that just made Tony smirk at him.

Bruce allowed Tony to all but drag him out of the elevator and down a hallway to a door that once again required a passcode. He became slightly wary when he caught Tony's now _very_ excited face, but he felt his own eyes widen when the door opened, revealing what Tony had called a 'smaller' lab. Truth be told, it was probably a good half of the entire floor. As he stared, Tony gave a muted chuckle and continued into the area, clapping his hands twice and then turning back around as all the machines and computers turned on.

"Welcome to about, oh, a quarter of Candyland." the billionaire informed him easily and Bruce shook his head as he followed Tony's lead inside.

"You're serious?" Bruce heard himself ask as he took his glasses out of his shirt pocket and slid them on, looking around in amazement.

"Psh, yeah buddy. This' nothing. Your lab's going to be cooler than this." Tony scoffed before going over to a mostly transparent screen that was laying on a desk, tapping on it quickly.

"My lab?" Bruce asked quickly, turning to look at Tony again from where he had been inspecting one of the engines Tony had propped up and was apparently working on.

"Well duh. You didn't think I was going to let you live here without your own lab, did you? And since you're already here, you can have design input and everything." Tony said as if it was obvious, glancing up to Bruce with a raised eyebrow.

"Tony, you don't have to-," Bruce started, only to have Tony give an exasperated sigh and meet his gaze.

"Seriously, if you don't stop with that, I'm going to have to start ripping my hair out or something. I think I figured out why people don't do nice things. All it gets them is their motives questioned and an incessant mantra of annoying things like 'thank you' and 'you didn't have to'. Well no shit, Sherlock."

Bruce gave the billionaire an exasperated look of his own, able to recognize the teasing quality to the man's voice.

"JARVIS, pull up that algorithm I was trying to work out the other day. I want to see if Bruce can tell me why in the hell the new tracking system isn't tracking." Tony changed the subject abruptly, and Bruce came forward, interested.

* * *

Pepper gave an amused sigh as she stepped out of the elevator on the floor where Tony had set up a temporary lab. It was well after eight at night, and she was positive neither Tony nor Bruce had left the room in well over five hours. While she knew it was typical for Tony, she figured that she at least owed it to Bruce to make sure he wasn't going crazy. As she typed in her passcode to open the door, however, she felt her eyes widen when she heard the banter between the two men as they worked over a screen, arguing about something she wasn't even going to try to follow.

"Boys." she said sharply, an edge of amusement and exasperation to her voice, making them both look up suddenly, Tony annoyed and Bruce wide-eyed with surprise.

Tony brightened once he saw her.

"Oh, hey, Pep." he said before looking back to Bruce. "I'm telling you. That will work just fine."

"Sure, if you want to blow yourself up." Bruce said as a sigh, though he seemed to visibly pull back into himself, something that made Pepper frown, and not just at the idea of Tony trying to blow himself again.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Tony tossed back cheerily, before faltering at the woman's glare. "Or… we could take another look at it, couldn't we, Bruce?"

"I wouldn't have let him blow himself up." the doctor added in, seemingly for Pepper's benefit, and the woman relaxed and gave him a smile.

"Thank you, Dr. Banner." she told him truthfully, before turning her gaze back to Tony who offered her a typical smirk. "You _will_ be taking another look at whatever it is you're trying to kill yourself with this time, _after_ dinner. It's after eight. Just because you like spending an ungodly number of hours holed up in here doesn't mean you don't need to eat. How many times have we been over this?"

"Too many." Tony replied without skipping a beat, and Pepper just sighed, knowing it was true. "But you still love me, right Pepper?"

"If you're lucky." she said dryly, before stepping aside and waving both men towards the door. "Let's go, both of you."

"Oh, that's alright. I'm-," whatever Bruce was going to say was cut abruptly off by Tony latching onto his arm and dragging him forward.

"Hungry, he's hungry. Famished." the billionaire said casting a wary glance to Pepper and speaking quickly into the doctor's ear as he pulled him out of the lab.

The woman smirked, catching a bit of what Tony was saying as they passed.

"Trust me, do not argue. Whatever you do. She will force feed you, it's best to just go willingly."

Bruce looked somewhat surprised but didn't protest, only speaking up once they were almost to the elevator.

"Tony, let go of me." he said, forcing an exasperated tone into his voice and rolling his eyes.

The group of three ate together, Tony and Pepper talking with each other over a variety of subjects while Bruce just mainly sat back and listened, trying not to intrude.

That's the way it continued for almost a week. Bruce got used to living in the Tower, and the always present possibility of Tony popping up unexpectedly that went with it. He was still quiet, reserved, and would try his best to almost make it seem like he wasn't even there whenever he was anywhere but the lab, which Pepper and surprisingly Tony picked up on. So, the billionaire took to pulling Bruce into conversation as well.

Slowly, the doctor found himself relaxing. He was happy, for the first time in a long time, and he was pretty sure the Other Guy had never been farther from his mind. He and Tony would spend most of their days in the lab, and Bruce found that the billionaire had an eye for much more than just engineering. He could also tell by the way that Pepper stared at him during more science-related conversations that she was impressed that he was able to keep up with Tony in a way she had never been able to.

One night after dinner, Bruce had decided to forgo the lab for an hour or two and simply try to relax and read a book instead. He found himself joining Pepper on Tony's floor instead of his own, settling down with his book while she worked on some paperwork. It was a nice, silent companionship that she seemed to enjoy and he certainly didn't mind after spending the day with Tony.

They both looked up when the elevator doors opened, Tony stepping through and moving to join them on the couches.

"So, Bruce, can you just stop kidding yourself and admit you're going to stay?" Tony asked lightly and Bruce gave a sigh as he sat his book to the side and faced the billionaire, expression hesitant.

It was a conversation they'd had a time or two before, and while Bruce wasn't hiding the fact that he liked living in the Tower, he was still wary that he'd eventually end up causing more trouble for his friend in the form of the huge, green rage monster that he occasionally became.

"Tony, as amazing as it is here, and as grateful as I am that you'd even _consider_ letting me stay, I don't want to hurt you. Or Pepper." Bruce said carefully, not looking at Pepper who had turned to listen to their conversation as well.

"Of course I'd let you stay. You're the only idiot I've ever met that's smart enough to keep up in my lab and stupid enough to put up with me." Tony said matter of factly, a knowing smirk forming on his face. "Besides, despite whatever anger issues the guy has, the Big Guy saved my life. And he doesn't mind listening to Rodgers, so when he moves in too, we'll be good on that end."

"Tony, you haven't even asked if he _wants_ to live here yet." Bruce said exasperatedly, shaking his head. Tony had explained to him before that he was putting rooms in for the rest of the Avengers, and didn't seem bothered that Thor was in another realm, Steve probably had a perfectly good place of his own, and that Agents Barton and Romanoff were still active SHIELD agents.

"Semantics." Tony waved him off, causing Pepper to sigh as well.

"Tony," Bruce shook his head again, but the billionaire just cut him off.

"Fine, whatever. But when we go Avenging and we all die because you were off in the asscrack of wherever, that'll be on you." he said with a shrug and Bruce glowered at him. "What? We both know damn good and well that you've got a lid on the Big Guy better than ever anyway. The only thing you're going to do here is help us, and have extended geek-out sessions in the lab that would make any one of your former colleagues drool on sight. Seriously, that's it."

Bruce bit his lip, warring with himself. His mind told him that this would only ever end badly, that'd he'd end up hurting his friends now just like he had before. Then again, now his friends consisted of at least one and possibly four more superheroes. That had to count for something. Before he said a word, he glanced to Pepper, wordlessly asking if she wanted him to stay. They too had formed a friendship over the past week, and he would never stay if she thought she was in any danger.

"Bruce, I want you to stay too . I trust you." she said truthfully, reading the question in his eyes.

Tony, to his credit was silent for the moment, watching the doctor with unmasked pleading. Bruce saw and he gave a heavy sigh before he gave a short nod and met Tony's gaze.

"Alright. I'll stay." he said, unable to help a grin when the billionaire practically started bouncing up and down in his seat in excitement.

"Tony." Pepper scolded, thought there was an edge of laughter to her voice as she watched his antics. She cast a gaze to Bruce, and saw him give her a slight roll of his eyes before raising an eyebrow as the billionaire hopped over to sit beside him instead, holding his holoscreen phone out in front of him and letting a hologram of a floor plan pop up.

"So, which room do you want?" Tony smirked, making the hologram a little bigger.

Bruce looked over the image curiously. He counted six rooms fanning out around what seemed to be a circular common area, complete with a large kitchen. None of the rooms were small by any means, and he didn't see much difference between them. He knew, though, that Tony wouldn't let him get away with not specifying his preference, so he pointed out the one almost directly across from the kitchen, fourth around if you started at the elevator doors.

Within moments, that room within the hologram had been shaded green, which just made Bruce sigh and cast an exasperated glance to the billionaire who just smiled unashamedly.

"I'll take this one." Tony muttered, letting a gold color shade the room to Bruce's right, before he looked to the doctor. "Which one should we give to Capsicle?"

Bruce rolled his eyes again at the nickname for Steve, before he gave a small grin.

Together, Bruce and Tony mapped out which rooms would be going to which Avenger. Hawkeye had been designated the room with the largest window at Tony's suggestion, which turned out to be the first room from the elevator doors. From there came the Black Widow's room, followed by Rodgers', then Bruce's, Tony's and finally Thor's. While Pepper sat watching them both in amused fascination, they also began planning how to decorate the rooms, though Bruce was sure to steer Tony's ideas away from anything their new teammates may find offensive. After all, they still didn't really know each other very well.

Truthfully, he wasn't even aware of Hawkeye's first name, and he was fairly certain Agent Romanoff was still afraid of him. After the battle, and subsequent Schwarma at Tony's insistence, both SHIELD agents had left fairly quickly and Bruce hadn't actually managed to have an actual conversation with either of them. Aside from the one where Agent Romanoff had convinced him to come in in the first place. And seeing as he'd at one point been held at gunpoint, he didn't really count that as a civil conversation.

* * *

Bruce was shocked that the renovations were complete on the top floors of the tower by the time another four days had passed. His new lab was quite honestly the very definition of an R&D paradise, and coupled with Tony's that made up the other half of the floor, Candyland turned out to be better than he'd ever expected. Above their labs was the Avengers' new living space, and below was the floor dedicated to a training gym that Tony had made sure would be able to stand up to Steve's and Thor's enhanced strengths, as well as include a state of the art firing range that he swore would be able to give even Hawkeye a run for his money. The top floor, directly above their rooms, remained mostly unchanged from the original design; an open lounge area complete with bar and balcony that looked over the New York City skyline.

That's where Tony and Bruce were located currently, the doctor trying to make Tony finish up the paperwork Pepper had left for him while she was in Toronto on a business trip.

'_Sir, Director Fury is on the line.' _JARVIS' voice announced, and both men looked up though neither was startled. Bruce had grown used to the AI soon after he'd moved in to the tower, and no longer felt weird talking to empty air when he asked for something.

"Great, JARVIS, put him over the speakers." Tony said quickly, casting a triumphant glance to Bruce who sighed and shook his head. There was an audible click of the line transferring, before the billionaire continued. "Director, what can I do for you today?"

'_Stark, I'm sending a Quinjet to pick up you and Banner. I've got a potential issue that I need to brief the entire team on.'_ Director Fury's gruff voice came over the speakers and Bruce felt himself frown, wondering what could be causing a problem that needed the attention of the Avengers so soon after the last crisis.

"The entire team? You might have an issue getting a hold of Goldilocks. I don't think you have coverage for inter-dimensional calls." Tony said lightly, grinning when Fury growled.

'_Just get your damn ass on the jet when it lands, Stark. And then get to the bridge for the briefing.'_ he said shortly, before the line cut off.

"Do you have to be a smart ass to him?" Bruce questioned as he stood, one eyebrow raised. "I don't think he'd mind shooting you."

"He won't shoot me until he doesn't need me." Tony said wisely, joining the doctor and leading the way to the elevator. "And currently, he apparently needs me. Besides, this gives us a chance to tell our in-realm teammates about their new living choice."

"He still might shoot you." Bruce protested, but stepped into the elevator anyway. Tony had had a landing pad put in on the roof for cases such as this, when they needed to get somewhere quickly and Fury sent a Quinjet.

They only waited about five minutes before the jet came into view and landed, the back ramp opening up for them to enter and the pilot looking back at them from the cockpit.

"We've got maybe a fifteen minute flight back to the helicarrier. Sit tight." he informed them, eyes resting on Bruce a minute longer than they did Tony, the wariness and caution visible.

Bruce sighed at the sight but didn't comment, instead taking a seat on one of the benches beside Tony and clasping his hands in front of him. The billionaire saw the glance too and his eyes darkened, which was somewhat surprising, but the doctor understood when he then spent the entirety of the fifteen minute flight ribbing Bruce about his 'anger issues', and his apparent dislike for cramped spaces.

While that was true, the Other Guy was nowhere near making an appearance from a simple jet ride, which Tony would also know. Bruce couldn't help but inwardly be amused despite how disapproving he appeared to Tony after he caught on to what he was trying to do.

Needless to say, even after they landed, the pilot didn't look back to them again.

Bruce followed behind Tony, letting the other man lead the way to the bridge and ignoring the distrustful stares he was receiving from pretty much everyone they passed. It was an easy thing to ignore, seeing as it was something he'd grown accustomed to around people who knew what he could become a long time ago.

Fury, the Captain and Agents Barton and Romanoff were already waiting at the table positioned to the back of the bridge and Bruce was quick to settle into a seat between Tony and Steve, returning the smile of greeting the Captain sent in his direction. Looking to the other two members of his team as Fury turned to them, Bruce saw that Hawkeye just looked rather bored and indifferent, though Bruce noticed with concern that there were easily identifiable bags under his eyes. The Black Widow's face was simply expressionless, listening intently as Fury began speaking, a hologram appearing in the center of the table.

"We've received intelligence that a new terrorist group has popped up in the country." Fury began without preamble, and Bruce turned to him as well, taking in the information.

"So, you're telling me these idiots raided a zoo, and are trying to see if they can genetically mutate the animals they liberated into killing machines that they will then unleash onto an unsuspecting civilian population." Tony said after Fury had been speaking for maybe a half an hour.

All but Hawkeye had more or less relaxed around the table, and were now staring at the SHIELD director with varying degrees of disbelief.

"Yes, Stark, that's what I'm telling you." Fury said shortly, eyes narrowing at the billionaire. "I want you all ready and knowing what you're facing if the time comes that you all have to go in and take care of the situation."

"Not really a job for the National Guard, huh?" Tony mused as Steve spoke up, his expression the most disbelieving out of all of them, though Bruce couldn't say he blamed the super soldier.

"If they do try to mobilize these things, they're probably not going to be able to transfer them very far without causing a scene." the Captain pointed out, leaning forward slightly as eyes turned to him.

"You also have to consider their intent." Hawkeye surprised them all by commenting, his tone as blank as his expression. "If they're trying to cause mass panic, they're not going to just let them loose in a random area."

"What is the main goal of our new friends?" Bruce asked, looking to Fury who sighed.

"This is all still very much in the beginning stages of operation, so we're not quite sure. But we do have eyes on the situation, so we'll be the first to know if anything changes." he said matter of factly, before looking around the group. "We also don't know when or if we can count on Thor returning so for now you're operating as a five-person team. Be ready to suit up any time. Dismissed."

The director then walked away from the table, pausing to speak with Agent Hill before he left the bridge entirely.

"Well that was enlightening." Tony sighed, glancing up quickly as Barton and Romanoff stood to leave the table as well. "Hey, hold up. I have an announcement."

Both agents paused and turned back to look at the billionaire, but neither made a move to return to their seats.

"Since we're going to make this whole 'saving the world together' thing an actual thing, we should probably, you know, try to stay together. Do some team-bondy stuff. Just throwing it out there that everyone's got a room at the tower with their name on it." Tony said easily, and Steve's eyes widened as if he was impressed.

"You're going to let us live in your tower?" the super soldier asked and Tony tossed him an expression that suggested it was obvious.

"Unless you've got some huge place you forgot to mention." he said with a raised eyebrow, before he turned back to the group as a whole. "Bruce is already moved in and everything. You haven't died yet, have you Bruce?"

"No, Tony." the doctor said placatingly, though there was a grin on his face.

Steve still looked undecided, so Tony looked to the two assassins instead, expression questioning.

Bruce watched as the two shared a glance, though it seemed to convey almost an entire conversation, which surprised him. Before he could dwell on it though, it was over and Romanoff was looking back to Tony as she and her partner continued off the bridge.

"We'll think about it." she said simply, and Tony gave a huff of annoyance, before turning to the other two men.

"Why do I get the feeling Barton doesn't like us?" he asked, sounding insulted, Steve giving a shrug.

"I'm not entirely certain he _likes_ anyone." the Captain said, sounding somewhat confused by his own words. "As far as I can tell, he's still pretty beaten up over what happened with Loki."

"I guess having your mind messed with can do that to a guy." Tony said, sounding unconcerned. "What about you, Rodgers? There's like a whole floor of a training gym that you can use to your heart's content. Besides, holing yourself up wherever SHIELD has you stashed isn't exactly going to get you used to the century."

Steve cast a quick, questioning glance to Bruce, who was happy to respond with an amused grin.

"I promise that I won't let him overwhelm you. Just come back with us and take a look around." the doctor offered, and Steve nodded his agreement and moved to stand from the table, Tony following suit and looking triumphant.

"I thought you didn't play well with others." the Captain tossed to Tony who just smirked and shrugged.

"What can I say? This whole 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' team thing is growing on me." he said matter of factly, taking the lead as they walked towards the airstrip.

Tony continued to babble on about the tower, its contents and basically how awesome it was for the walk, and subsequent ride back to New York. Bruce tuned the billionaire out within minutes, while Steve just listened to him talk with a raised eyebrow and bemused expression.

It became apparent to Bruce almost immediately that throwing Steve, who had barely begun to get used to cell phones and computers, into arguably the most technologically advanced building in the world was going to be difficult. That said, the Captain took in everything fairly well, though Bruce tried to pick up on his lost expressions and explain as quickly as he could. He couldn't imagine effectively going to sleep in the 1940's and waking up seventy years in the future.

JARVIS had been the hardest thing to explain to the super soldier, but eventually he got the idea across that there wasn't an actual person speaking, but actually a very advanced computer.

"Steve, if you ever have any questions, you can always come to me." Bruce said with an amused sigh as they sat down on the couches in the common area outside their rooms. Tony had long since proven more hindrance than help so Bruce had shooed him down to the lab and taken over Steve's tour by himself.

"Thanks, Dr. Banner." the Captain looked around himself with a slight shake of his head. "I guess I've got a lot more to get used to than I thought."

"Trust me, if you can manage here, you can manage anywhere." Bruce told him matter of factly.

"Does dealing with Stark get any easier?" Steve asked after a few moments, and the doctor gave a slight sigh.

"I think a lot of Tony's issues with you stem back to his father. Give him some time. But other than that, no he doesn't usually shut up." Bruce offered a small grin and Steve gave a snort and a shake of his head.

"Well, I have to admit, I agree with him one thing. If we're going to be a team, we have to stick together and we have to get to know and trust each other." the Captain said firmly, before looking around himself again. "I guess I'll have to run by my apartment and grab my things."

"I'll go with you if you want. Just let me tell Tony, so he can get the gloating that he told me so out of the way now and I don't have to listen to it later." Bruce offered, standing, and Steve raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't think I'd move in?" he asked curiously, and Bruce gave a slight shrug.

"I think that getting all of us together for a substantial length of time is going to be interesting."

"I'll give you that." the super soldier grinned, before following Bruce over to the elevator.

* * *

**Well, there you have it. Tell me what you think if you have the time to leave a review. I hope you enjoyed it. I'll hopefully have the new chapter up by Tuesday.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry this is a little later in the day than normal, but I started college this week so it's a little hectic. Anyway, here's the next chapter.**

**Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/alerted this story. I'm thrilled to see this getting just as much positive feedback as Protective Reasoning, and I know it has everything to do with you wonderful readers. So I'd like to thank all of you, even those who didn't review.**

**This chapter is Clint focused, but I'm going to do more with Steve's interactions in the next chapter. And if you're getting kind of bored, don't worry, the action is going to be picking up a lot in a chapter or two. I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

**As always, I own nothing.**

* * *

Clint's eyes shot open wildly when he was thrown back into consciousness, his breathing heavy and erratic. He closed his eyes tightly as he tried to calm himself from the nightmare that had once again plagued his sleep. He hadn't gotten a full night's sleep since before he'd been taken over by Loki. The fact that it had been nearly two weeks didn't get passed him, but even so he wasn't sure what he could do about it. After all, his body had been used to lead an attack on the helicarrier, and thus causing the deaths of dozens of agents, injured hundreds. He was more than aware that his own hand had shot the fatal arrow for more of his fellow agents than he wanted to admit to himself.

And so, red-tinged fragmented memories haunted his nightmares near-constantly.

He let out a long breath as his breathing returned to normal, ignoring the ache of pain that accompanied his still healing bruised ribs. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't an injury he'd received from the battle. No, he'd gotten the bruised ribs from one of the multiple encounters he'd had since with grief-ridden agents that thought him responsible for their friends' deaths.

He honestly couldn't fault them for it. After all, he had loosed the arrows responsible, blew the engines, and ultimately led the entire attack himself. Under Loki's mind control or not, he was responsible for all the deaths, and all the injuries. So he took their punches and kicks without fight or complaint, believing them more than deserved for the guilt he felt for what he had done. It wasn't very healthy for his mind or body, but he honestly didn't care.

At the moment though, he simply extracted himself from the cocoon of blankets he'd wrapped around himself before lowering himself into his quarters through the air vent. He'd taken to sleeping in the air ducts, something he hadn't done since he'd first joined SHIELD seven years ago. For some reason, sleeping there made him feel safer than in his bed.

Glancing at the clock beside his untouched bed, he saw that it had only been two hours since he'd settled himself in the duct in the first place and sighed, running a hand through his hair in exhaustion before he picked up his bow and quiver and left his room. Despite his exhaustion, some time in the otherwise deserted range would help him clear his mind, and work through his guilt and frustration. That way he'd be able to slip his mask into place for the rest of the day; lock down his emotions so that no one else knew he was self-destructing from the inside.

Clint worked his way through the deserted halls of the helicarrier, slipping into the range without being seen by anyone. Once there, he extended his bow and set up five separate targets before he took off at a dead sprint across the range, notching and firing arrows as he went. He lost track of time as he flipped, jumped and rolled back and forth across the room, occasionally taking to the rafters and swinging across them as he fired as well. When his quiver was empty, he simply collected his arrows and started again, ignoring the tired ache from his muscles.

He only paused, breathing heavily and sweating when the door to the range opened. He didn't move from where he crouched on one of the rafters, expertly hidden in the shadows above the range. The only thing that would give away his presence was the arrows in the targets.

He relaxed slightly when he saw it was only Natasha that entered, her eyes turning to the rafters with a trained eye and picking out his crouched form with ease.

"How long have you been here?" she asked accusingly and he sighed before leaping lightly to the ground, and landing with none of his usual grace due to his exhaustion.

"Since three." he admitted, ignoring her angry hiss of annoyance as he went over to collect his arrows from the targets.

"Clint, you can't keep doing this to yourself." she told him, honest worry in her eyes as she caught his shoulder and spun him around, meeting no resistance. "You can't keep letting _them_ do this to you."

Clint met her gaze stubbornly, but felt his resolve crumble when he saw the fear that accompanied the worry. In that instant, his shoulders slumped and he let his breath out as a long sigh, bowing his head.

"I don't know what you want me to do, Tasha. I close my eyes and I watch what I did." he said, heat gracing his tone and his eyes darkening. "They were supposed to trust me, I was on their side. Then I shot them just as easily as any target."

"Clint, that wasn't you." Natasha said, her voice firm and carrying an edge that told she had made this point before. "None of it. It was _Loki_."

He scoffed but didn't respond, resuming his action of reclaiming his arrows.

"We should take Stark's offer." she continued, watching as that garnered a reaction, in the form of a raised eyebrow and disbelieving expression.

"You want to live with Tony Stark." he said tonelessly, and her eyes just narrowed.

"Well we have to do something, Clint. I can't just keep going on, wondering if you're going to get beat unconscious on your way across the helicarrier. If you're going to let them go too far and get yourself killed." she said, though she didn't retract her statement as he froze, turning slowly to glare at her with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not suicidal, Natasha." he said stiffly, and her eyes softened as she stepped up to him, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"I know. But you're never going to be able to heal here. Not when you have to constantly watch your back and pretend to ignore the looks. If we're going to be a part of the team, we might as well do it. How can you expect to be able to fight beside them and them with you if you haven't said five words to any of them outside the battle?" she questioned rhetorically and he let his shoulders relax again, finding himself agreeing with her.

She saw the agreement in his eyes and gave a slight smile, taking a small step back.

"You go take a shower and get packed. I'll talk to Fury, and we'll get a jet to the New York base." she told him, waiting pointedly for him to grab the rest of his arrows and walk out of the range with her.

"Alright, alright." he murmured, doing so quickly and collapsing his bow, following a half step behind her.

Clint managed to skillfully avoid meeting any other agents on the way back to his quarters. Once there, he took a quick shower before pulling on a fresh pair of black cargo pants and a gray SHIELD t-shirt. That done, he began packing up his belongings into two duffle bags; one for clothes and one for his weapons. He didn't have much that didn't fit into one of those two groups.

Only twenty minutes after they'd separated at the range, Natasha stepped into his room, two similar bags over her shoulders.

"Fury gave us the okay, and we've got a jet out of here in five. He was somewhat surprised though." she informed him and Clint gave a short nod, before allowing a small sarcastic smirk to grace his features.

"Well of course he was. Someone actually volunteered to go around Stark." the archer said as if it was obvious, watching as the relief sparked in her eyes at his words, before quickly changing to exasperation.

"As much as Stark annoys me, _you_ haven't even had an entire conversation with him." she reminded, but he just shrugged.

"Your opinion is enough for me." he said teasingly before he led the way out of his room and towards the airstrip.

She gave a quiet chuckle before following him, shaking her head good naturedly.

As soon as they passed the first grouping of agents outside the mess hall, Clint's expression once again dropped into stoic indifference, keeping his eyes focused ahead of him in hopes of avoiding conflict. Of course, that wasn't feasible. Not with half the personnel on the helicarrier out for his blood in some fashion.

"Going somewhere, Barton?" the taunting voice behind him made him pause, jaw clenching even though Natasha's eyes urged him on pointedly.

"Sorry, Tena, but I've got a jet to catch. I don't really have time to listen to you jabber at me today." Clint said in a bored tone, turning to face the man despite the fact that the older, and bigger, agent had already managed to knock him unconscious twice this week.

"Oh, well then good riddance, Barton. Just try not to come back and kill the rest of us this time, okay?" the words were condescending and made Clint freeze, though nothing showed on his face.

He didn't respond to him that time, turning to simply walk away instead. Inwardly, his own actions made him chuckle. How many years had Phil tried to get him to learn when to walk away from needless fights?

Apparently though, Tena didn't feel like letting him get away that easily. The other agent stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder, slamming him around and back into the wall. Clint scowled slightly, but then schooled his expression to look bored and apathetic, even though he didn't fight back against the now almost painful hold on his shoulder.

"I'd let me go, Tena." he said as a sigh, causing the older man to give a stiff chuckle, grip tightening.

"Why, Barton, you finally grow a backbone?" he taunted, but Clint just snorted.

"We both know that if I really wanted you off me, you'd have been on the floor thirty seconds ago." the archer said matter of factly. "But while I might think I deserve whatever you're planning, she doesn't."

As if on cue, Natasha stepped up, knife in hand that was then gracefully wrapped around Tena's throat, her hold sure and steady.

She didn't even have to say a word before Tena released Clint's shoulder roughly, eyes narrowed and angry. But no matter how angry he was at Clint, he wasn't suicidal enough to risk the wrath of the Black Widow.

Without a word, Clint then stepped away from the wall and continued towards the airstrip, Natasha following him just as silently a moment later, her knife already hidden again and her stride confidant.

Neither assassin spoke as Natasha directed them to the jet Fury had set aside to take them down to New York. The pilot was pleasant enough, which was a small miracle in Clint's mind. The flight was short, and by the time they landed in the air field behind the city's base, Clint was starting to feel his exhaustion again. He didn't let it show, though, following a half step behind Natasha as she picked out a cab and waved it down.

* * *

Tony was barely awake, sitting with his head on his arms at the breakfast table with a cup of coffee, Bruce and Steve for company.

"Tony, why did you bother getting out of bed for breakfast if all you're going to do is sit there and snore at us?" Bruce asked in exasperation casting an amused glance at Steve who just shrugged.

"Because Pepper woke me up before she left because she thought Rodgers looked _lonely_." the billionaire said, raising his head and looking up at the Captain with narrowed eyes. "Are you _lonely_, Rodgers?"

Neither Bruce nor Steve could help a chuckle at that, which just made Tony stick out his tongue at them before letting his head fall back onto his arms.

"Tony, Pepper left two hours ago." Bruce pointed out, but Tony just gave a dismissive wave of his hand.

"It's the thought that counts, right? I mean, I'm out of bed before noon, what else do you crazy ass early birds want from me?" he demanded before looking up to Bruce shrewdly. "How are you so awake anyway? You went to bed when I did: four. How much coffee have you _had_?"

"I prefer tea." Bruce said, giving his mug a slight shake for emphasis. "And not much. I just don't really need a lot of sleep."

Tony stared at him like he had two heads for a moment, before JARVIS' voice cut into the conversation.

'_Sir, the security personnel in the lobby are requesting your assistance. I believe Agents Romanoff and Barton are refusing to relinquish their weapons. I suggest intervening before things get any more out of hand.'_ the AI said, causing Steve to jump, still not used to the sudden voice.

"Aw, hell." Tony groaned, picking up his head a few inches before simply letting it fall back onto the table with a thump. "JARVIS, tell the security people to back off before they get themselves killed. We'll be down there in a minute."

"We?" Steve asked with an amused raised eyebrow, and Tony just cast a pleading glance to him.

"Yes 'we'. While I'm thrilled Stalin and Legolas are here, it's going to take a team effort to keep them from killing my security people for trying to touch their stuff. Assassins are supposedly very territorial."

"I've heard that about snipers." Bruce offered as he stood from his chair, and coaxed Tony up.

"See?" Tony said pointedly before taking a long swig from his coffee mug before walking towards the elevator, making an obvious effort to wake himself up. "And I don't want to have to cover up dead security guards. Do you have any idea what that will do to my insurance?"

They all chuckled as they stepped into the elevator, Tony pressing the button for the lobby and leaning back against the wall.

"What else is in the building?" Steve asked curiously as they dropped down floors, and Tony just shrugged.

"Stark Industries stuff. A couple R&D floors, meeting floors, a lot of office space." he said, not really interested.

When the elevator slowed smoothly to a stop and the doors opened, the three Avengers stepped out to see a small grouping of people in security guard uniforms standing warily around a pair of people, who each had two duffle bags flung stubbornly over their shoulders.

"If you would have just _called_, this whole mess could have been avoided." Tony said in exasperation, waving his security team down. "No, seriously. Back off before you all die."

"I would've thought you warned them." Natasha said dryly, glaring fiercely at one of the men that was apparently still too close for her liking.

"Sir, they're carrying-," who looked to be the head of security spoke up quietly, but Tony just cast him an amused glance.

"Yes, he has a bow and arrows, and together they probably have more guns and ammo than the U.S armory." the billionaire said dryly, before waving the two assassins forward. "I'm assuming you've both decided to take me up on that offer then?"

"Presuming I don't have to kill my way through security every time I want to go up." Clint said, his tone and expression as blank as always as he started forward, Natasha a half step behind him. "Cap, Dr. Banner." he greeted with a nod to the other two Avengers who returned it easily.

Bruce noticed that he looked even more exhausted and worn than he had the day before during the briefing, but he didn't comment on it.

"No, no." Tony sighed, looking to his confused head of security again. "Hawkeye and Black Widow are going to be living upstairs with me and the rest of the gang. Eventually, there's also going to be an Asgardian god joining in too. So these four bypass security. And if you see a really big blonde haired dude with a cape and a hammer, let JARVIS know he's here and let him up too. It's really the easiest option."

The uniformed man stared at him with wide, disbelieving eyes before he shook himself and responded.

"Yes, Mr. Stark."

"See? Now no one's going to try to touch your stuff. That was easy." Tony said, turning back to where the rest of the Avengers stood watching him, Bruce with an exasperated expression, Steve bemused, and the two assassins' faces blank.

Without another word, they piled into the elevator, Tony quickly pressing the button for the gym, which was the lowest floor that only the Avengers had access to.

"Well, we'll go ahead and have the tour since we're already in the elevator. Top four floors are all ours, no one else has access to them without mine or Pepper's express say-so." Tony started with a long sigh, sounding bored. "JARVIS is my AI, he's everywhere and hooked up to everything electronic, he's there if you need him. Say hi, JARVIS."

'_Welcome to Stark Tower, Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff.' _JARVIS' voice sounded from the speakers obediently, causing Clint to cast an almost wary glance up and Natasha to smirk.

"Anyway, first stop is the gym, it is seriously the entire floor, so knock yourselves out. Literally if you want, as long as I don't have to pay for damages." Tony continued as the elevator slowed and the doors slid open, causing Steve to give the billionaire a disapproving look, while Bruce gave a slow shake of his head.

The group stepped out of the elevator, the two assassins looking around critically. Tony noticed that Barton's eyes lingered on the high, vaulted ceiling with a frown, but before he had time to process why that would be, the archer's eyes found the area set aside as a firing range and an actual smirk graced his features.

"Looks like fun." he commented, and despite the smirk, his tone remained unchanged.

"I had fun _programming_ the thing." Tony said airly, his tone challenging, which just made Natasha give a sigh and Clint raise an eyebrow. "If I do say so myself, I don't think even you have a prayer, Bird Brain."

"I'm here five minutes and you're already challenging my aim?" the archer asked, a flash of something in his eyes that no one had time to identify.

"Your aim _and_ your reaction time, Barton." Tony said arrogantly, going over to the controls.

"Tony, I really don't think this is a wise decision." Steve said uncertainly, eyeing the gleam that had taken hold in Barton's gaze.

"Come on, Capsicle, lighten up." Tony admonished as Clint dropped both his bags and unzipped one to pull out his collapsed bow and quiver. "Fifty bucks says he won't hit every one I throw up."

"Hundred says I will. Dead in the bullseye." Clint said simply, still not an ounce of emotion in his voice, causing Natasha to chuckle, stepping back to Steve and Bruce and speaking quietly.

"This will be good for Stark." she murmured, both other men leaning in slightly to listen. "Let Clint make him swallow the foot he just put in his mouth. He needs it every once in a while."

Steve couldn't help a chuckle at that while Bruce crossed his arms over his chest and watched with a raised eyebrow as Hawkeye extended his bow with one easy jerk.

"Two hundred." Tony raised with a smirk, and Clint just cut him a glance as he slung his quiver over his back.

"Three." he countered just as coolly, and the billionaire raised an eyebrow.

"Do you even have three hundred dollars?" he asked, turning away from the control panel to give the archer an incredulous look. He just returned it, made a show of considering for a few moments before he tightened his grip on his bow and gave another smirk, shoving both his duffels away with a boot.

"Five."

"Damn, Barton." Tony's eyes widened slightly, before shaking his head with a cocky grin. "It's your money, man, whatever."

"Give me some targets, Stark." he said simply, glancing to Natasha again and giving another smirk. After that, his expression smoothed into concentration and he turned to watch as Tony pressed a few buttons before stepping back.

Four circular targets three inches in diameter shot straight up into the air before three more shot across. The speed was significant, but Clint just paused, waiting for a few short seconds before he pulled, notched and fired four arrows in rapid succession. All seven targets dropped, three arrows having two targets impaled on them instead of just one. Clint turned to face Tony with a raised eyebrow, just as two more targets shot diagonally across the machine. Without turning back, Clint notched and loosed one more arrow, catching both targets on it dead center just as they crossed paths.

Silence rang in the gym for a few long moments, Tony in particular looking shocked. Steve and Bruce were considerably impressed, and Natasha just sighed.

"See what I mean, boys?" she asked lightly, glancing to the men on her either side. "Foot, in mouth, down throat."

"I think that's five hundred you owe me, Stark." Clint said as he collapsed his bow again but kept it in hand and his quiver on his back. "You ever want a rematch, you let me know. I could use a little spending money."

"Bruce, remind me to take another look at that later." Tony said firmly, a slight scowl on his face.

"This is going to be an ongoing thing now, isn't it?" the doctor sighed, but gave a smile as he followed Tony back towards the elevator, the rest of the team falling in behind as well.

Neither Hawkeye nor Tony responded, and Steve just met his gaze and gave a slight shrug.

* * *

Clint gave a slight sigh as he stepped into his new room, looking around with sharp eyes quickly. It was simple enough; dresser, closet, door that probably led to a bathroom, TV mounted on the wall in opposite the bed that was legitimately massive. What caught his eye and immediately endeared him to the space was the huge window that went the expanse of the wall opposite the door. There were three feet between floor and glass and another three between glass and ceiling, but the kicker was that the window actually stuck out from the walls of the tower, making a sort of platform he could sit on and watch from.

Setting his bags on the bed and relieving himself of bow and quiver, the archer approached the platform before lithely leaping up onto it, keeping his hands braced on the wall above him as he made sure the glass would hold his weight. Satisfied after a few moments, he relaxed and leaned against the side more or less inside the alcove, looking down and out over the city. Somehow, the fact that he was dozens, probably closer to a hundred, stories above the ground didn't bother him.

As he allowed himself to relax, he started wondering why Stark had given him_ this_ room. He highly doubted they all had alcove windows large enough to sit on. Even so, he had to admit he liked the view.

He sat there for a few long minutes before he stood and moved instead to unpack his belongings, though he left his weapons in his duffel at the foot of his bed. It was easier that way, in cases of both needing to use them quickly and needing to grab them quickly.

After finishing that up, he had just been eyeing the air vent above his bed when there was a knock on his door, Natasha entering half a second later.

"Stark's calling lunch and a movie." she said, sounding somewhat annoyed, but he could tell it was more amusement than anything. "Don't leave me out there with them alone."

"This was your idea, Tasha." he told her with a strained smirk, before he sighed. "I'm going to see if I can get some sleep alright? Then do a bit of exploring." he gestured to the air vent which just made her roll her eyes before turning to leave the room.

"I can't believe you." she muttered unhappily, but didn't argue further. She knew he needed sleep desperately, and she'd be sure to communicate the fact that he wasn't to be disturbed, no matter what Stark thought of the situation.

Clint, on the other hand, knew Natasha had his back and wouldn't let the others, namely Stark, mess with him.

As the door closed behind her, the archer moved to the bed, finding that his eyes started to drift closed before he'd even gotten himself completely under the blankets. His last thought before drifting into sleep was that at least Stark had sprung for what was probably the _most_ comfortable bed he'd ever seen.

He managed to get four hours of sleep this time before his nightmares forced him back into wakefulness. He groaned as he woke, rubbing his eyes forcefully to try to get rid of the images he could still see when he closed them.

Within moments, he'd slipped off the air vent cover, slid the grating back into the duct and pulled himself up into it.

* * *

Bruce shook his head good naturedly as he quickly left the kitchen where Tony just seemed bound and determined to get a rise out of Steve. He didn't know why the billionaire enjoyed antagonizing the super soldier so much, but at least Steve seemed to recognize that Tony was only teasing him and not being serious.

Either way, the doctor didn't want to be in the middle of it, and he was heading for his lab. The movie had been good, even though he'd missed most of it due to Tony's conversations with Steve and then Natasha.

Natasha was just stepping into the elevator as he walked up and he gave her a slight smile, pausing before he followed after her. He still didn't know how the woman felt towards him after what had happened on the helicarrier.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked carefully. He almost missed the all too familiar flash in her eyes as she spun to face him. Quickly he took a step back and gave a slight sigh.

"Not at all." her reply was sharp, but he didn't think the tone was directed at him.

He glanced up to see her give him a slight wave forward, and while he had his doubts that she was comfortable sharing a small, confined metal box with him, he wasn't going to argue. He just stepped inside and pressed the button for the lab floor, noting that she was headed to the gym.

"Agent Romanoff, I…ah, never did apologize for what happened on the helicarrier." he said quietly as the doors slid shut and the elevator started to move. She visibly stiffened but didn't respond, so he just continued. "I hope you weren't hurt, but I'm sorry either way."

"Dr. Banner, the room exploded. I don't think we can say that one was your fault." the assassin said dryly, raising an eyebrow at him. "I'm fine."

By then, she had expertly masked all her emotions, so he couldn't tell if she was being truthful or not. So, he just sighed and nodded.

"I'm glad." he said appeasingly before his own eyebrow quirked as he left the elevator as the doors opened and he tossed a comment back over his shoulder. "At any rate, it was nice having a conversation with you where I didn't get a gun pointed at me."

He grinned, and almost thought he imagined the twitter of quiet laughter that was her response.

After an hour or two of working in his lab, he paused and frowned when he got the feeling he was being watched. He'd gotten quiet paranoid over the years, and thus knew when there was someone watching him. Looking around the lab, his frown deepened when he saw no one. Then, however, he remembered who he was now sharing a tower with.

Tony had hacked all of the Avengers personnel files while Bruce had been conveniently in the room. He remembered that Hawkeye's, while having been at least 75% redacted, had mentioned that the archer had a penchant for watching things from above and a distance. Curious, he stole a glance up under the guise of rolling and stretching his neck and barely caught a glimpse of his teammate crouched on the railed platform above the lab. Tony had one in each lab, due to the apparent fact that 'if something might accidently-on purpose blow up' he didn't want to be anywhere near it, and didn't think Bruce would want to be either.

What the doctor couldn't figure out was how the assassin had even gotten up to the platform, not having come through the door or gone up the stairs _to_ the platform. That he would have noticed. If Barton had figured out that Bruce now knew he was there, he didn't say anything about it or even twitch for that matter.

Bruce just went back to work, having an inkling as to what the SHIELD agent could possibly want. Who else would know what it felt like to be essentially taken over and then go on a destructive killing spree?

He wasn't going to bring it up before the archer did though, just in case he was wrong, but it would sure explain why it looked like the man hadn't been sleeping.

For the next couple days, it seemed they each were content to pretend that Bruce wasn't aware of Barton's presence watching him. The doctor didn't know what to think of it, seeing as no one else, besides probably Natasha, had seen the archer at all. He didn't join them for meals, and Tony was getting a little agitated seeing as he couldn't figure out how Barton was getting around the tower and not being seen. Bruce didn't offer up the information that Barton was in his lab whenever he was alone in it, and wasn't quite sure why.

On the fourth day, Bruce sighed and stepped back from his lab bench, having had enough of Barton's silence. His eyes turned to where he knew the assassin to be sitting, catching the blank blue-gray gaze easily.

"I didn't know you were so interested in nuclear astrophysics." he said lightly and the archer almost seemed to stiffen before he sighed, lowered his gaze, but didn't make a move to come down from the platform. Bruce wasn't giving up that easily, however, and continued with or without a response. "Agent Barton, I think we both know why you're here. If you have something you want to talk about we can."

"I don't particularly know that I _want_ to talk about it, doc." Barton muttered, still not relaxing in the slightest.

The doctor found a chair and sat back in it, taking off his glasses as he moved to speak.

"Then how about I do some talking, hmm?" he asked, looking up when his words met no protest. "What Loki did to you, you can't blame yourself. You have to understand that despite whatever was done by your hand, it wasn't done by your mind."

"But it was." Barton protested quietly, almost to the point that Bruce couldn't hear him. "I _was_ making the decisions. I thought it out, planned it perfectly using everything I knew about SHIELD."

"What were you feeling during the attack?" Bruce asked, making Barton look at him strangely. "I'm serious. What emotions do you remember?"

"None." the archer almost scoffed, a form of self-hatred darkening his gaze that Bruce was all too familiar with. "All I cared about was the mission. Nothing else mattered."

"So would the person who led that attack care now? Would he suddenly care about the lives he took, or the destruction he caused?" Bruce asked knowingly and watched as the archer slowly looked up again, doubt coloring his expression. "Because you obviously do care, Agent Barton. It's obvious you haven't been sleeping; I doubt you've been eating and you practically ooze guilt. So I would like you to tell me if there's a difference between who led that attack and you."

Bruce waited expectantly as Barton processed his words thoughtfully, his eyes widened in what was almost disbelief. Then, the younger man just shook his head.

"So I didn't fight hard enough. I shouldn't have let him get so far into my head." Barton said shortly, but Bruce actually chuckled, shaking his head.

"Hawkeye, I defy every law of physics there is and turn into a giant green rage monster when I get angry, and psychotic gods from another realm with magic spears doesn't touch even _my_ scope of normal." the doctor said matter of factly. "There's no way you even had a chance."

"Selvig put a fail-safe into the portal." the archer protested, but the doctor just sent him a level look.

"And you killed far less people than you could have." he said simply, and Barton just stared at him. "Think about it. You know Fury, you knew he wore Kevlar. Yet when you shot him for Loki, you shot him in the chest. You could have just as easily put a bullet between his eyes, but you didn't. And you and Agent Romanoff are partners, aren't you? I'm guessing you train together fairly often?"

Barton nodded slowly, almost hesitant and Bruce continued.

"Yet she was able to find a way to knock you unconscious."

"It wasn't for a lack of fighting back on my part." the archer muttered, remembering the bruises he'd found on Natasha caused by him. But he also remembered her telling him that he hadn't been fighting with his usual speed on the catwalk.

Bruce gave a small smile when he saw Barton's shoulders visibly relax, as if some great weight had been taken off him. Not all the darkness had disappeared from his eyes, but he hadn't expected that. It would take more than just one conversation to heal the archer's mind, and the guilt would probably never fully go away. He should know.

"Do you remember? When you Hulk out do you remember what he does?" Barton asked carefully, though there was once again a distinct lack of emotion in his voice.

"Sometimes." Bruce admitted as a sigh, leaning back in his chair again. "If I do it's fragmented. Mostly just emotions."

"I remember parts; flashes. That's why I can't sleep. I just keep watching what I remember doing, the agents I remember killing, over and over again in my head." Barton said shortly, anger gracing his voice.

"It'll get better slowly." Bruce told him reassuringly. "You won't forget, but it will get easier. But the first thing you have to do is forgive yourself. Quit beating yourself up over it. It's done, you can't change it. All you can do is make peace with it and move on."

Barton snorted in disbelief, to the point where it was almost a scoff, but he didn't say anything.

"When was the last time you ate?" Bruce asked, eyes narrowing as he looked over the archer as best he could with the distance between them.

"Two days ago." Barton muttered, his head bowing slightly as if he was ashamed of his admission.

"That's healthy." Bruce said lightly. "I guess you've been avoiding Agent Romanoff too then, since she wouldn't have let you get away with that."

The younger man didn't respond to his words, which just made Bruce give a snort and stand.

"Well guess what; I'm not either. Let's go. I'm getting you something to eat, and then you're going to try to get some sleep." the doctor said with a pointed glance.

For a moment, he almost thought that Barton wasn't going to come down. But then, the assassin slowly stood and made his way down the stairs, approaching Bruce carefully. The doctor could tell though, that it wasn't a wariness of him. It seemed more like the younger man was trying to decide whether or not to trust him.

Bruce waited until Barton had paused beside him before he walked towards the elevator. He was silently followed, and neither of them spoke while riding up a floor. Bruce then directed the archer to the stools on the other side of the granite kitchen counter before he moved to the fridge and pulled out a few tubs of different lunch meats.

"We've got ham, turkey and roast beef. What's your preference?" he asked, looking up to the assassin and almost daring him to argue.

"I can make my own sandwich." Barton protested, only to sit back slightly when Bruce cast him another look.

"I was feeling roast beef too. Good choice." the doctor said easily, and the archer scowled at him but crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter.

Bruce deftly made two sandwiches and put away what was left of the meat and cheese before he turned back to Barton with a plate, only to blink and pause when he realized that the younger man had fallen asleep on his stool, his head on his arms. He gave a slight sigh of amusement and exasperation and set the plate silently on the counter beside the agent's head before he moved to the table with his own sandwich and grabbing the morning's newspaper that Steve had left in front of his seat after breakfast.

He was going to let Barton sleep as long as he could, knowing he needed it, but he was also going to make sure he ate as soon as he woke up.

He wasn't surprised when Romanoff walked out of the elevator a few moments later and the woman's eyes instantly found her partner's sleeping form. Her eyes widened slightly before she looked to Bruce, realization and relief taking the place of her surprise.

"Thank you." she said quietly, eyes sincere. "For whatever you said to him."

Bruce just gave a nod and returned to the paper, speaking just as quietly. "He fell asleep before he could eat, but I'm not about to wake him up."

She gave her own short nod and cast one more glance at Barton before she went into her room, coming back only moments later with a file. She then sat down at the table with Bruce and began going over whatever information was in the file, eyes flicking to her partner every few moments.

* * *

**There we are. I hope everyone enjoyed it. The next chapter will probably be out late Thursday, early Friday. I know that's a little longer than usual between updates, but I'm not going to be able to do much writing tomorrow. Rest assured it will be as quickly as possible.  
~Dogstar**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm just going to start out by saying that I'm really sorry this took so long. I had wanted to have this out at the latest early this morning, but that obviously didn't happen, so I apologize for the wait. Anyway, thank you to everyone that has reviewed/favorited/alerted this story, you're all amazing.**

**We get some action in this chapter. Yay!**

**So I hope you like this chapter, and I always appreciate a review. The next chapter should be up Sunday, but after that it might be a little sketchy considering I may not have power/internet due to Tropical Storm Isaac. But I'll update as quickly as I can.**

**As always, I own nothing.**

* * *

Steve didn't know why he allowed Tony to get to him.

Honestly, he knew that getting him to start arguing was the billionaire's main goal, and he didn't _think_ that he actually meant everything he said, so he didn't know why he went along with it. The half-playful arguments just left him frustrated, and Tony giving him this God-awful smug smirk as he cackled and walked away.

He had never thought there were people in the world that actually cackled before he met Tony Stark. He had also never thought that it was possible for one man to be that annoying, so it seemed the man was just all kinds of surprising.

Tony would try to get him to argue about a vast number of things: his age, his lacking knowledge of technology, his apparently outdated beliefs in a number of things, and his time as a 'Capsicle' to name a few. And as days passed, Steve somehow found himself almost growing to expect and look forward to the arguments. As long as he took nothing that came out of the billionaire's mouth seriously, they were almost amusing.

And seeing as Tony didn't seem to take himself seriously on most occasions, he didn't feel bad about it.

Still, though, he couldn't understand how Bruce could handle working in the lab with him for such long lengths of time. The doctor had to have greater patience than he did, but Steve was just grateful to have him. Who knew how many things would have exploded by now if Bruce hadn't talked Tony out of some of his zanier ideas?

Personally, he was a lot more at ease now that he had gotten to know the doctor more. He wouldn't lie to himself or anyone else and say that he hadn't been wary at first, having seen first-hand how powerful and destructive the man's other side could be. Still, the control Bruce exhibited on a daily basis was astounding and it hadn't taken him long to put his mind at ease. He liked the morning conversations he and Bruce had occasionally after he'd done his workout and was ready for breakfast.

They never talked about anything in particular. Mostly just what happened to be in the paper that day, or one thing or another that Steve was confused by.

The Captain had had a few short conversations with Agent Romanoff in the training gym when they both happened to be there, but he still wasn't sure he'd learned anything about her as a person. Not that he found that surprising. The woman was an assassin, he knew, so he never expected he would. Especially not so quickly.

On the other hand, he still hadn't seen much of Agent Barton. No one really had. About five days after he'd moved into the tower, he'd been surprised when he'd walked into the kitchen from his room and found the archer in what looked to be a very deep sleep leaning on his arms on the island counter and sitting on a stool. Bruce and Natasha were sitting at the table and both looked up when he approached, motioning quickly for him not to make a sound. Even so, Barton had jolted awake not two full minutes later.

The younger man had quickly spun around, eyes flashing across everyone present in the room, his hand half-way to his side where Steve could only guess he had some sort of weapon hidden. After only about a second he relaxed and ran a hand down his face before looking to Bruce.

"Sorry 'bout that, doc." he said, his voice weary but Bruce had just shaken his head and directed him to the sandwich beside his head.

Currently, Steve was stepping out of the tower into the cool, early morning air. It had been another three days since that incident, and the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, not yet visible over the tops of the buildings. There weren't very many people on the streets, which made it a good time for a run.

He turned, surprised, when he heard the doors to the Tower open up again behind him, Agent Barton stepping out and blinking slightly when he noticed the Captain.

"Morning." Steve greeted lightly, taking in the archer's shorts and t-shirt that made him think they had similar ideas. "You going for a run too?"

"I was thinking about it." Barton hedged before he frowned slightly and almost seemed to force himself to relax before he spoke again, his tone lighter and less defensive. "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all." Steve said, before he started down the street, going decidedly slower than he usually did, which amounted to a normal human pace. He didn't want to make the younger man that had finally allowed himself to interact with him feel uncomfortable.

He decided he needn't have worried when Barton then outstripped his pace easily with a cocky smirk thrown over his shoulder.

Steve smiled and caught up, letting the archer lead the way through the streets. For a while they were silent, but after maybe a half an hour of constant jogging through various parts of the city that the Captain barely recognized he spoke up, curious.

"You always up this early? Or was it involuntary?" Steve asked, not really out of breath despite their pace. He was surprised that Barton could still keep it up, to be honest. But he had seen the haunted dullness to the assassin's eyes when he'd come out of the building, and he'd had enough nightmares to know what the aftermath of one looked like.

"Little of both." Barton puffed, sounding more out of breath than the Captain did and shaking sweat out of his eyes. "Got a hell of a lot more sleep than I have been though, so I'm not complaining."

"Good." Steve said, before quickly backtracking with widened eyes as the archer tossed him a questioning glance. "I mean that you're getting more sleep, not that…" he trailed off sheepishly when the younger man gave a breathless chuckle.

"Relax, Cap, I know what you meant." he said and Steve relaxed, giving a grin of his own.

"I'm guessing you're just always up at the crack of dawn." Barton continued, which surprised Steve.

Even so, the super soldier responded easily, not going to say no to a conversation.

"Yep. I don't really do much sleeping either. I've done quite enough of that over the last 70 years." he said lightly and Barton snorted.

"Yeah, I'd guess so." he said dryly before they lapsed into silence again, continuing their run.

By the time they circled back to the tower, the sun had risen above the horizon but not yet over the buildings, and even Steve was breathing heavily. They slowed to a stop just as they reached the building's doors, and Steve glanced over to Clint, unsurprised to see the assassin looked worn out from their run.

"I'm surprised you kept up with that." the Captain admitted as they walked inside, and the archer gave him a grin.

"What can I say? I've always been fast." the younger man said easily as they both bypassed security without a thought and headed over to the private elevator.

"I can see that." Steve said lightly, before he looked to the archer questioningly. "You want to join Bruce and I for some breakfast?"

Barton paused slightly, head tilting to the side as he seemed to consider the Captain and his offer. Steve waited patiently, not knowing what to expect. The younger man may have been making himself scarce ever since he'd moved in, but recently he'd been joining them for a meal or two once in a while.

"Yeah, sure." the archer said a few moments later, and Steve grinned at him.

When the elevator stopped on the second highest floor of the building, the two stepped out and were surprised to see the rest of the team, including Tony going about getting breakfast.

"Wow, Stark, a bit early for you, isn't it?" Barton spoke up first, which was somewhat surprising to everyone.

Tony instantly turned and waved a butter knife at the archer, who just raised an eyebrow.

"You know, Legolas, I'm beginning to think it's just me you don't like." the billionaire said airily, and Clint just snorted as he poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot, having slid into the kitchen and around its current occupants.

"I knew that IQ wasn't just a fluke." Clint commented mildly, not even turning to look at the older man, who now looked affronted.

"See, I'm having trouble figuring out if you're just as bitingly sarcastic as I am, or if you just really hate me that much. The more surprising of the two being the first one." Tony retorted, his tone light.

"Hate is a strong word." Barton gave a slight shake of his head, sipping his coffee as he turned to look at Tony. "It I _hated_ you, you'd probably be dead."

"Oh, well you're welcome for the hospitality." the billionaire scoffed.

The rest of the team just watched with muted fascination as the argument played out. Steve seemed to be mildly concerned, Bruce looked exasperated and Natasha's eyes were glinting in amusement.

Only she could see that Clint was really just having fun aggravating the billionaire in a way that no one else had yet managed to.

Barton settled back against the counter with a raised eyebrow, watching as Tony all but glared at him.

"So, Tony, why _are_ you up so early?" Steve cut in carefully, the tension practically palpable even though Clint was totally at ease.

"Pepper's due back from Toronto in an hour." Tony turned away from the archer with difficulty to look to Steve.

"Oh." Steve said, not knowing how else to try to diffuse the situation.

Thankfully, however, Tony moved past it fairly quickly, sitting instead and talking to Bruce about something to do with his arc reactor that the doctor seemed fairly interested in. Steve just grabbed the morning paper and tried not to eavesdrop on the quiet conversation the two SHIELD agents were having a few feet away.

Somehow, they were all still in the vicinity when the elevator doors opened almost exactly an hour later and five pairs of eyes almost instantly turned to the blonde woman that came forward.

"Pepper!" Tony said happily, rushing to meet her and giving her a quick kiss in the process.

"Yes, Tony, good morning to you too." she said with a smile, before looking up and pausing in surprise when she noticed the rest of the team. "Oh, good morning."

"Morning, Pepper." Bruce threw in with a grin from where he sat on one of the couches with a book.

"Ms. Potts." Steve walked forward first, offering his hand. "Steve Rodgers."

"It's good to meet you, Captain Rodgers." Pepper said, taking a small step away from Tony's side to shake his hand.

Sharing a glance, Clint and Natasha stepped forward as well, the male assassin taking Steve's place once the super soldier stepped back.

"Clint Barton." he offered along with his hand, which Pepper shook with another grin. After him, Natasha stepped forward and Pepper faltered slightly, her expression morphing into one of curiosity.

"So what do I call you this time?" the blonde woman asked, and Natasha smirked, while the rest of the team aside from Clint and Tony looked confused.

"Natasha Romanoff." she said matter of factly and Pepper nodded, shaking her hand as well before looking around at the group.

"I'm guessing Tony somehow convinced you all to stay?" Pepper asked and Tony gave a mock gasp.

"Don't sound so surprised, Pep." he said, sounding hurt even though there was a grin on his face.

"Tony, people have actually managed to stand your presence without killing you. That _is_ an achievement." Pepper said kindly, patting him on the cheek despite how put out he looked by her words.

"I take offense to this!" he protested as she walked away, moving to set her things down on the kitchen counter.

* * *

Clint knew that after the briefing Fury had given them, he shouldn't be surprised that the team was being called out. But as he quickly suited up, grabbed his bow, quiver, sidearm and small collection of knives before making his way up to the roof to the landing pad to meet the rest of the team, he couldn't help feeling a little apprehensive.

They wouldn't know until they got onto the jet what they were facing specifically, all Fury had told them over the phone being that there was a situation in Boston. And then there was the issue that he wasn't exactly certain that Tony trusted him.

Of course, it might possibly be his fault for the way he had been acting. Even if it was, though, the kind of attitude the billionaire seemed to have adopted toward him wouldn't be good in any fight.

In a lot of ways, it was different from the alien invasion in New York. They still may not know each other well, but they now knew each other enough to start forming opinions. And that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

As he hurried toward the elevator, reaching it as the same time Natasha and Dr. Banner did, Clint caught a glimpse of Pepper seated in front of the TV, anxiously watching what looked to be a news feed from Boston. The woman had only gotten back from her business trip the day before, and already Clint could tell that she was the worrying type. Even so, Natasha had told him that Pepper Potts was strong enough to be able to handle living with a team of super heroes, and Natasha was rarely, if ever, wrong about someone.

They were silent in the elevator, Bruce in particular looking nervous and strained.

When they stepped out onto the roof, they were just in time to see Tony, suited up but mask raised, having what looked to be a heated discussion with Steve.

"Rodgers, you can't tell me there's not even a part of you that doesn't think this guy's a liability." Tony was saying, seemingly without a conscious attempt to keep his voice down. "By his own words, he hasn't been sleeping. He has worse anti-social tendencies than _I_ do-,"

Steve silenced the billionaire with a look as the rest of the team came around the corner from the elevator.

Clint felt his grip tighten almost painfully of his bow before he quickly slipped a mask over his emotions and relaxed, completely ignoring the horrified look Bruce sent him and the impassive one from Natasha. Tony was entitled to his opinion, and if he thought that Clint was a liability, he was probably right in taking it up with Steve. The billionaire's words may have hit a little too close to home for comfort, but he wasn't going to let them distract him.

Even so, the silence while they waited for the Quinjet was awkward and tense.

The jet landed maybe five minutes later and the team piled in, Steve instantly going to the screen that was showing live footage from Boston.

"I think Fury was right about the whole mutant animal thing." Tony spoke up first, having followed that Captain to get a better look.

"Are those wolves the size of horses?" Natasha asked, actual surprise coloring her tone while Clint just grunted and looked over the scene with narrowed eyes.

It seemed the Army had already responded to the situation, most of the forces being tanks. In addition to the wolves, there were apes a little smaller than King Kong, and one of the shots showed the sky swarming with mutant vultures of some sort.

"Right, we just stepped into some really weird, mashed up sci-fi movie." Bruce said matter of factly with a sigh, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"Come on, Bruce, you got to admit that if there wasn't the possibility of people dying it'd be pretty cool." Tony said, before crossing his arms over his chest. "Why do terrorist cells have to go and ruin all the potentially fun stuff? I mean if those wolves weren't so bloodthirsty they'd make amazing guard dogs."

"Tony, focus. These things are threats, and we need to eliminate them." Steve said, his tone hard. "Fury wouldn't have called us in if they were able to be contained. As far as I can tell, it seems most of the civilian population has managed to get inside. Natasha and I'll be on the ground dealing with what we can. Tony, I want you in the air with those birds. But the first thing you're going to do is get Hawkeye to a roof." the Captain paused and looked to Bruce who just gave a tight grin.

"Just try to keep the Other Guy away from those tanks. He's not a fan of the Army." the doctor said and Steve sighed.

"I'll move those tanks to making a perimeter. It'll be better for us and them." the Captain decided, just as Tony slid his mask back into place and spoke.

"I'll go ahead and scope things out. See if I can't get some things taken care of a bit quicker." the billionaire informed them, and Steve frowned but nodded.

"Be careful. Don't do anything stupid without backup. And when we land, I still want you get Hawkeye up so he can have eyes on the situation." he said and Clint couldn't help giving a slight scowl, but didn't comment as Tony agreed and opened up the back ramp of the jet.

"What's our ETA?" Natasha asked of the pilot who didn't look to her as he responded.

"Around five minutes Agent Romanoff."

"Everyone's got their comms in right?" Steve asked, speaking more to the two SHIELD agents than he was Bruce, who didn't wear a comm. link for obvious reasons.

Clint nodded wordlessly, watching out the window as Boston came into view.

"Stark, what're things looking like?" the Captain asked, still watching the video feed while keeping his shield held stiffly at his side.

'_Pretty shitty, actually.'_ the billionaire's light voice came through their comms. _'The numbers are astounding. And I'm positive more has been enhanced than just size. These things can move, and they're breaking though buildings and such.'_

Within minutes, the Quinjet had managed to put them down near the largest collection of tanks, which had caused Bruce to groan out loud and become infinitely more nervous. Steve was busy yelling at whoever happened to be in charge of the tanks to get back and create a perimeter instead of being in the thick of the fighting. They started moving back not a full minute later and as soon as they did, Bruce's place was taken by the Hulk, who definitely didn't like the presence of the tanks.

He snarled at them furiously and prepared to attack, but Steve quickly stepped forward and intervened, anxious to get to where Natasha and Clint were standing back to back and were starting to pick off wolves.

"Hulk, I need you to start taking care of those apes." the Captain ordered firmly, and the giant green rage monster looked to him, eyes flashing with fury.

Even so, he gave one more threatening snarl before leaping over to where a pair of apes was destroying an office building.

"Stark, think I could get a lift?" Clint asked into his comm, taking out a grouping of three wolves that were pursuing one of the tanks with an explosive arrow.

'_Well, when you ask so nicely,'_ Tony's almost mocking voice came back and Clint scowled, but only moments later, Iron Man landed beside him, blasted back a stray ape with one of his repulsors before grabbing him tightly. "Where to, Legolas?"

Wordlessly, Clint pointed out a seven story building to the east that would give him a clear view of the area and had a large, open roof top. He jerked back against Tony's suit when they shot into the sky, ignoring how wrong it felt to be flying like that. Within half a second of setting him down on the roof, Tony was gone again, barreling towards a flock of vultures above them.

"Alright, Hawkeye is position." he muttered, notching an arrow into his bow and letting it fly straight into the neck of an ape that was lumbering toward where Natasha and Steve were tag-teaming a grouping of wolves that had more or less circled them. Looking around, he couldn't help a grin when he saw that the Hulk had pulled a light pole from the sidewalk and had taken to bashing in the heads of his opponents with it.

As the battle wore on, and Clint's supply of arrows steadily dwindled, he realized that the only thing he hated more than a terrorist cell was a _smart_ terrorist cell. He didn't want to know where or how they'd come up with a way to turn normal animals into what they were fighting now. Their main targets seemed to be anywhere with a substantial human population, the people of Boston having retreated into buildings.

He glanced up when he heard Tony cursing vehemently and admittedly creatively. The red and gold flash of the Iron Man suit was shooting away constantly from a pack of the mutant vultures, but they just seemed to catch up again, expertly aiming with their beaks for weak areas of the suit.

'_Stark, report.'_ Steve's voice came over the comm, followed by a grunt of effort as he slammed his shield into the shoulder of a wolf to off-balance it long enough for Natasha to get a shot off.

'_These stupid birds keep dive-bombing me.'_ the billionaire spat back, and Clint was able to watch as he jetted away from one attack and fired two repulsor beams, one of which missed completely. _'They've already taken out the tracking system for my missiles.'_

"Stark, their long range sight seems killer." Clint broke into the conversation, looking away from Tony's situation to fire off an arrow into a wolf that was trying to slink into a metro entrance. "Stay close to them and keep moving. That should throw the bastards off enough that you'll be able to drop them."

'_If you say so.'_ Tony responded, but he didn't sound doubtful which Clint counted as a minor miracle.

The archer turned away from him in time to cast a curious glance to the building storm clouds coming from the south-west. He almost smirked at the sight, speaking into his comm to relay the information.

"Hey, guys, we may have an incoming friendly." he announced, watching as Natasha and the Captain managed quick glances up as well.

Moments later, the clouds were directly above them and a dark blur hurtled down to land directly in the thick of the fighting with Steve and Natasha.

'_Greetings my warrior friends!'_ Thor's booming voice sounded through someone's comm, almost making Clint wince. _'I apologize for my lateness. As soon as Heimdall made me aware of your fight, I returned as quickly as the Bifrost would allow.'_

The hammer-wielding demi-god then swung a blow into one of the advancing wolves, knocking it back a good fifty feet into two others.

'_Someone tell him we can get the story later.'_ Tony responded crossly. _'We're thrilled he's here, but less jabber, more hammer.'_

Clint actually laughed at those words before he spoke again, shooting an arrow into the third ape that the Hulk was currently trying to tackle at once.

"Cap, send him to me real quick so I can give him my extra comm." the archer said quickly and he watched as Steve relayed the information and Thor swung his hammer to fly up to where he had set himself up.

"Noble Hawk!" the thunder god greeted with a bright smile, and Clint lowered his bow just long enough to reach into the small compartment at the bottom of his quiver and pull out the extra comm link he always kept there after a mission that had gone south in the Congo about three years ago.

"Here, put this in." Clint told him, handing him the device and motioning for him to put it in his ear which Thor did with a slight frown. "See if you can't get down and help the Hulk out with those apes."

"Very well." Thor nodded, starting to swing his hammer in swift circles to go down there.

"Oh and Thor," Clint spoke up again which made the demi-god pause and turn to him. "Good to see you again."

Thor gave a booming laugh and hurtled down to help the giant, green rage monster with his enemies. That taken care of, Clint turned back to where Natasha and Steve were fighting, now more or less surrounded by wolves.

"Widow, stick close to Cap. Those wolves are going to have a pack mentality and they're going to go after the weakest link first." he told her shortly and she gave a disapproving snort as she shocked one wolf on the back of the neck with her hand guards and lithely rolled under another to confuse it before dispatching it as well.

'_Are you calling me weak, Hawk?'_ she asked mildly, and he just chuckled, loosing an arrow to help them out.

"Not at all, but that's how these things are going to see you in comparison to him." he informed her, watching as she reluctantly moved to fight closer to the Captain who accommodated her presence easily.

They continued on for maybe another ten minutes, finally able to tell they were making a difference in the sheer number of hostiles they were dealing with. Steve had found a metro station crowded with terrified civilians and he had stationed himself at the entrance to make sure nothing got to them.

Clint paused, arrow halfway into his bow when he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

"Stark, lose the rest of the birds. Six blocks to your two o'clock, past the Army perimeter, there's a group of people loading stuff from a building into a semi. I'm going out on a limb and saying they are remarkably unconcerned by the killer mutants." he said dryly and Tony paused before shooting off in the direction Clint had pointed out.

'_Yeah, I'm definitely on it.'_ he muttered, leading the three remaining vultures past the Hulk who had no qualms with picking them out of the sky before returning his attention to the apes he and Thor were battling.

'_My guns are out.'_ Natasha said into the comm dispassionately, unsheathing two blades instead and twirling them into ready positions.

"I'm covering you." Clint told her quickly.

What happened next was so quick that the archer almost missed it. In less than a moment, a wolf had leapt clear over the metro entrance and barreled into Steve, whose shield was currently flying into the throat of a second wolf.

"Tasha, Cap needs your help." Clint more or less shouted out of concern that surprised him somewhat, lining up a shot that took down the huge wolf with one arrow before it could do too much damage, hopefully.

'_On it.'_ the red headed woman leaped lithely over to the Captain's side, who was struggling to get the wolf's body off of him, one arm wrapped tightly around his side, where the wolf's claws had shredded his suit and his side beneath.

Even from where Clint was standing, he could see a pool of blood beginning to form beside Steve.

"Cap, you alright?" he asked quickly and the Captain sucked in a sharp breath before responding, his voice pained.

'_Well, it's definitely bleeding.'_ Steve forced out. _'Damn.'_

"Thor, leave those apes to Hulk and get over to Widow and Cap, _now_." Clint all but ordered, notching and firing arrows as quickly as he could to keep the wolves off of his team-mates. As Natasha tried her best to stop the bleeding from Steve's injured side.

Within moments Thor landed beside them, brandishing Mjolnir to keep the remaining wolves back from them.

'_Lady Natasha, can you see to the Captain's wounds?'_ he asked as he brought down a strike of lightning to more or less decimate the remaining wolves around them.

'_Thor, the subway entrance.'_ Steve hissed, forcing himself up into a sitting position despite Natasha's protests.

'_Relax, Capsicle, I've got it. Our friends have been detained. I didn't stick around long enough to see what they were trying to steal. My guess: this whole thing has been nothing more than a distraction so they could get away with whatever they wanted. Terrorist cells have a tendency for the dramatic.'_ Tony said shortly as he landed, using a flame thrower from one of his gauntlets to finish off the final few wolves before speaking again. _'Legolas, we clear?'_

"Looks like." Clint nodded, quickly casting his eyes around the streets he could see. "Hulk just finished up with the apes. Thor, why don't you go keep him off those Army tanks, see if you can talk him into letting Banner back. I think Tony has the spare pants he brought. Stark, keep covering them, I'm on my way to you."

Clint slid his bow string over his head to rest on his back with his quiver before he starting leaping expertly to a few nearby roof tops, trying to get to a shorter building so he could rappel down to the ground level with one of his grappling arrows. He only had two arrows left, which was probably a miracle in itself.

"How's he doing?" Tony asked, his mask up and unable to help the concern the edged his voice as he turned to look at where Romanoff had bunched up the torn edges of Rodgers' suit to the wounds across his right side and stomach.

"I'm fine." Steve said, but Natasha just coolly cut across him.

"The claw marks are pretty deep, but I don't think they cut through the abdominal wall. As long as we keep the bleeding down, we'll be fine." the assassin said matter of factly, casting a glance complete with raised eyebrow to the Captain.

'Damnit, Stark, on your two, four and eight.' Barton's voice cut through their comms and Tony turned sharply, firing off two repulsor blasts at wolves that had started approaching them slowly from the directions the archer had indicated. From behind him, however, he heard a threatening growl not even three feet behind him.

He turned sharply, just in time to see an arrow sprout from the massive wolf's eye socket. He stared in wide-eyed shock as the beast collapsed, in all actuality not even a foot away.

"Holy son of a bitch." he breathed, well aware that he had just been five seconds from probably becoming a chew toy. Slowly, he turned to follow the path the arrow had taken with his eyes, feeling them widen when he saw Barton hoisting himself into an upright position from where he had been hanging _upside down off the side of a nearby building_.

Quickly, he realized that the younger man must have been rappelling down when he'd seen the threats, and had subsequently wrapped his line around one of his legs to keep himself in place while he fired the arrow that had saved the billionaire's life.

'Focus, Stark. Those three came out of nowhere, I don't know if there's any more or not.' Barton's growl made him give his head a quick shake and look around again, scanning for anything else that would threaten where Natasha and Steve were still situated on the ground.

"I called Fury through the comms. Medical and a SHIELD task force are on their way." Romanoff said matter of factly, not looking up from where he hands were still pressed to Steve's wound.

"Great." Tony said sarcastically, before feeling slightly relieved when he saw Thor and Bruce approaching quickly.

"How bad is it?" the doctor asked worriedly, moving to crouch at Steve's side as well, not even having to ask what happened, apparently having been filled in by Thor.

"Guys, really. I heal fast. I'll be fine." Steve said, trying to force the pain out of his voice and ignoring the level looks he received from everyone else as Bruce's hands replaced Natasha's.

Tony turned slightly at the sound of footsteps to see Barton jogging up to them, pistol held ready in his hand and bow slung with his quiver over his shoulder. The slight limp was obvious, as was the frayed sections around the right leg of his pants.

"Not bad for a liability, huh Stark?" the archer asked lightly as he came up, eyes flicking over their surroundings again.

Despite his casual tone, Tony flinched at the words as if they'd actually been a blow. At the time, he hadn't cared whether or not the archer had heard what he'd said, but now, seeing as the man had just saved his life while _he_ had been distracted, he felt a little ashamed of what he'd said.

He didn't say anything though, his jaw clenching slightly as Barton moved to stand at Natasha's shoulder, his stance protective as he stared down at Steve.

"Hey, Hawkeye. Thanks for taking care of that for me." the Captain said sincerely, blinking up to the archer, who just gave a short nod.

"No problem." Clint nodded quickly just as Thor came forward as well, holding out the super soldier's shield to him wordlessly, eyes knowing.

Within minutes SHIELD cars and one Quinjet had swarmed the area, Fury personally seeing the six Avengers onto the Quinjet, along with the two medics that had taken over caring for Steve. Not one of them was willing to leave the Captain's side while he was injured, and thus they all made the journey up to helicarrier where Steve ended up with stitches along the four, six-inch long gashes with strict orders not to do anything strenuous until they had healed.

Clint was well aware that he was getting glared at the entire time he was on base, but he almost grinned when both Natasha and Bruce stuck to his side, having noticed the looks as well.

Within the hour, Fury had come into Steve's temporary infirmary room, just as the super soldier was being released to go back to the tower. The entire team was there, but no one could tell if this sparked more exasperation or amusement on the director's face.

"Avengers. Good job on keeping the situation contained and taking care of it quickly. I trust you'll be alright, Captain?" Fury turned to Steve who gave a nod as well a grimace from where he sat on the edge of the cot.

"I'll be fine." he said reassuringly.

"And Thor, we're glad to have you back. Will you be staying a little longer this time around?" the director next looked to Thor who nodded as well.

"My duty to this realm, and this team is something I need to put more focus on. I will return to Asgard when I am needed, but otherwise I plan to remain here. Hopefully helping to prevent a crisis like the one my brother brought on from happening again." Thor explained and Tony gave a smirk as Fury nodded acceptance.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing we've got a place for you to stay, Point Break." the billionaire said easily, looking around at the entire team that was scattered across the room.

Even he could tell something had changed between all of them during the fight. Whatever tension was gone almost completely, and despite the fact that Steve was hurt, they were all relaxed, even the two assassins. Tony knew without a doubt that he could trust his five team-mates with his life, no matter the situation. And for him, that was a drastic difference from only a few short hours ago.

He had a feeling that things were about to get a lot easier at the tower.

* * *

**Well, there you have it. Let me know how you feel about it, and be on the look out for the next chapter.  
****~Dogstar**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello all! As always, I want to go ahead and thank everyone who reviewed, favorited and alerted this story. Or even read it. :) Sorry this chapter's a little short, but it's more of a filler in between action, so yeah. I hope you like it, and as always, I appreciate any feedback you're willing to give me.**

**I don't own anything, and I highly doubt I ever will.**

* * *

Clint looked out over the New York City skyline from where he sat perched on the roof of Stark Tower. It had been a few hours since they'd returned from the helicarrier, and since then the sun had set. The rest of the team was one floor below him, relaxing and celebrating their victory, but Clint didn't particularly want to join them.

Now that he had time to think back, he couldn't help mulling over Tony's words, wondering if he actually _was_ a liability to his team. Sure, today he had been fine. He hadn't missed a shot; he'd covered everyone's backs from above just like he'd been expected to. But last night had been a relatively good one. He'd slept, he'd been eating. But if he ever got to the point where he'd been a week ago, he could just as easily kill them as save them.

He stiffened when he heard the elevator doors slid nearly noiselessly open, expecting Natasha to join him. He was surprised when only a few seconds later, someone cleared their throat behind him. Quickly, he pulled his legs up from where they were dangling over the side of the building and turned, keeping the shock off his face when he saw Tony standing somewhat awkwardly behind him.

That in itself was odd. Tony Stark was usually completely at ease in any situation, yet here he was, looking uncomfortable.

Before Clint could say anything, the billionaire spoke up, his voice stiff and rushed.

"Look, do not get used to hearing this from me, because it will never happen again." he started, and Clint raised an eyebrow but listened as the older man continued. "I was wrong. About what I said. You're probably the furthest from a liability of any of us."

The archer gave a surprised blink at that. Not only was Stark admitting he had been wrong, but he was pretty sure that that had been a heavily veiled compliment. Even so, he didn't respond, watching as the billionaire gave a sigh, taking his silence for a belief in his lack of sincerity.

"I'm not just saying this 'cause you saved my ass. Which you did, by the way, no denial there. But that's not the point. The _point_ is that I am thrilled to know that you're at my back, shooting arrows at aliens and mutants and whatever else Fury throws us into. Let's face it, we all have issues, and I get that yours are a little fresh, but we want you on this team, alright?" Tony said, lowering himself to sit cross-legged in front of the archer.

"I am occasionally antisocial." Clint admitted, giving a small smirk as he met the billionaire's gaze, settling himself into a similar position.

"You think? We've barely seen you for the past week and a half. I've practically defined 'antisocial', and you put me to shame." Tony scoffed, relaxing slightly now that the assassin didn't seem hostile. "How _are_ you getting around?"

Clint's smirk widened, one eyebrow rising.

"I bet it's just killing you, isn't it Stark?" he asked knowingly and Tony gave a mocking glare.

"It's perfectly understandable for me to want to know. It's my tower." he said defensively, but Clint just shook his head. "Anyway, you should come join us. Relax a little. Listen to Thor's stories. The guy gets talkative when he drinks apparently. Some of the stuff he's saying is amusing. Then later, I challenge you to that target machine again."

"Really, Stark? After today, you still think a machine can beat me? I don't miss." Clint scoffed but stood, deciding that he had no reason /not/ to join his team. "You already owe me five hundred dollars."

"Double or nothing." Tony offered with his own smirk and Clint rolled his eyes but shrugged.

"Later." he acquiesced, waiting for Stark to stand as well. "You remember when you asked if I was just bitingly sarcastic or I hated you?"

Tony nodded curiously, hopping up to stand beside the archer.

"It's the first one." Clint said easily, and Tony scoffed slightly, his expression almost disbelieving.

"Please, you with a sense of humor? I think Romanoff has a better chance of wearing pink." the billionaire teased, but Clint just raised an eyebrow.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Stark." the assassin reminded lightly, an almost evil grin forming on his face. "Like how I get around the tower for instance."

"You're not hilarious, you're an asshole." Tony remarked, eyes brightening at the challenge of going back and forth with the archer.

"Coming from the Iron Ass himself, that should almost be considered an honor." Clint retorted starting towards the elevator.

"What did you call me, Cupid?" Tony demanded, catching up quickly with narrowed eyes.

"Oh don't tell me it doesn't fit your personality _perfectly_. A healthy dose of ego, as well as giving people a fair warning of what they're going to be dealing with. I think you should do away with the whole 'Iron Man' thing and stick to Iron Ass." Clint continued, for the moment ignoring the man's insult.

The rest of the team looked up in shock when the elevator doors opened and Clint and Tony engaged in a rapid, occasionally scathing banter. Steve and Bruce looked concerned for a moment, sharing a quick glance, but Steve quickly realized that this wasn't an argument.

Both men were grinning, walking side by side, Clint especially more at ease than they'd seen him before.

"Tell you what, I'll go by Iron Ass when you go by Cupid." Tony said as he plopped down onto a stool behind the bar, Clint taking one between Natasha and Bruce.

"Is that a challenge?" the archer demanded, causing Natasha to snicker into her drink.

"He'll do it, Stark. If for no other reason than to see everyone else call you Iron Ass." the Russian assassin told him matter of factly, and Tony snorted, giving Clint a distrusting look when he quirked an eyebrow.

"You're evil." the billionaire said coolly, which just made Clint's smirk widen.

"I'm glad you've caught on." the younger man said condescendingly, chuckling when Tony gave a huff.

"Alright." Steve said placatingly, holding up a hand to stop them both. "You've both made your points."

"I don't know, this could prove amusing." Natasha commented, scowling with a glare when Clint snagged her drink and took a sip.

"I'm glad we can provide your entertainment, Romanoff." Tony shot back cheekily, before looking to the archer. "What'll you have, Legolas?"

"Got a beer?" Clint questioned, catching the bottle Tony tossed at him from beneath the bar with ease and a nod of thanks.

"Friend Hawk, it does me well to see you have suffered no lasting effects from my brother's actions." Thor spoke up after a moment or two of silence and Clint had popped the top off his beer and taken a small swig.

The archer was well aware of Natasha and Bruce sharing a quick glance at the demi-god's words, but he ignored it, giving him a slight nod.

"I'm fine, Thor, thanks." Clint said easily, tipping his beer bottle to Thor, who returned his nod with a grin. "Steve, how're you doing?"

"Fine, really." the Captain said reassuringly, though Clint could tell he was holding himself stiffly from where he was sitting on his stool.

"Right. Let's just forget the huge claw marks down your side and stomach. No problem." Tony said lightly, taking a sip of his scotch. "Seriously, Rodgers, did those bastards on that tin can even give you pain meds?"

"They wouldn't work." Steve said with a shrug. "It's the way my metabolism changed with the serum. Nothing like that really affects me."

"That sucks." Tony said with a slight wince, mirroring Bruce's expression, while the two assassins gave small frowns and Thor simply tilted his head out of confusion. "So what nothing? Caffeine? Alcohol?"

"Nothing." Steve confirmed with a wry, almost disappointed smirk.

"So that's why you've got that stick up your ass." Tony muttered under his breath, only to jump back about three feet when Clint flicked his bottle cap at the billionaire, and it unerringly struck directly between his eyes. "Hey! Anyway, I propose a new goal: Get the good Captain drunk."

"Tony, I have tried on numerous occasions; hell Howard tried. It's not going to happen." Steve said in exasperation, though he frowned slightly when he saw Tony's eyes darken at the mention of his father, not offering another comment to continue conversation.

After a few moments, Bruce spoke up, his eyes turning to Clint worriedly.

"What about you, Hawkeye? I caught you limping earlier." he said and the archer just gave a slight roll of his eyes.

"It's nothing. A little rope burn, that's all." he said, ignoring Tony's piercing, knowing glance and meeting Natasha's gaze instead. She just narrowed her eyes slightly at him, wordlessly informing him that _she _would be taking a look at it later to make sure it was actually nothing. He just gave an innocent grin in return, before looking to Thor who was continuing the story he'd been telling when Tony and Clint walked in.

* * *

When Tony trudged out of his room the next morning, he almost instantly had to pause and blink a few times, confused.

Something coming from the kitchen smelled amazing. The only problem was that while Steve and Bruce had exhibited limited cooking ability, the only one he thought capable of creating that smelled above simply edible was Pepper. And she was still in the room he had just exited.

Curiously, he walked forward and peered around the kitchen wall, feeling his eyes widen when he saw none other than Hawkeye standing at the stove and having amicable conversation with Steve and Thor while he flipped pancakes to what should have probably been impossible heights. There was already an impressive pile on a plate beside the archer to the right of the stove.

"You can cook?" Tony made his presence known with his question, everyone turning to look at him, including Natasha, who he hadn't noticed before, sitting on the counter on the left.

"Clint can cook." she confirmed with a smirk, ducking around the archer's playful swat as she outed him.

"It's just something I picked up." he looked to Tony with a shrug before flipping the now done pancake in the pan to the stack on the plate expertly. "Hell of a lot better than relying on SHIELD to supply something edible in a safe house."

"That I can understand." Tony said matter of factly, leaning around Natasha to grab the half-full coffee pot and pour himself a cup.

Clint grinned as he glanced to Natasha, seeing her almost hesitant calm in her eyes.

They'd both decided last night that they should at least try to learn to trust their team-mates, relax around them and act more as Clint and Natasha and less like Hawkeye and the Black Widow. After all, if the rest of the superheroes were going to trust them, they should try to do the same. And Clint was never one to do things slowly, his only patience coming when he was watching and waiting for a target.

So, there he was, relaxed and joking while he made pancakes for breakfast.

That wasn't to say it was easy. Far from it. For years he'd only been able to put his trust into two people, and that was Natasha and Phil. Expanding that to include the rest of the Avengers was not going to be something that happened over night, but he was willing to give them a chance and relax.

"How do you do that?" Steve asked, eyes curiously watching as Clint absentmindedly flipped a pancake.

The archer just shrugged.

"Practice." he said dismissively, eyes turning to where Tony was trying to sneak up along-side him to grab a pancake off the stack. "Oh no you don't, Stark. You can wait 'till they're done like everyone else."

"But they smell good." Tony complained, taking a small step back and crossing his arms over his chest. "What'd you put in them? They're not going to kill us, right? Like assassin pancakes?"

Before Clint could respond, Bruce stepped forward, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"I'm sorry, but if I'm going to wake up to questions about assassin pancakes, I'm going back to bed." he said matter of factly, and Thor gave a booming laugh while Steve and Clint chuckled.

Natasha barely looked amused, and Tony was still suspicious.

"The pancakes aren't going to assassinate anyone, and Tony's being paranoid." Clint explained easily, before looking to the billionaire in question. "It's not my fault that I need to make so many pancakes."

"Oh, so you're pinning the blame for late breakfast on Point Break and Capsicle, huh?" Tony accused, but Clint raised an eyebrow before Thor or Steve could protest the billionaire's words.

"Or your impatience. That one could work." he said lightly and Tony huffed, watching as the archer flipped another pancake onto the towering stack.

"Do you want another plate?" Bruce asked, eyeing the pile suspiciously as he took a stool beside Thor on the other side of the granite island counter.

"Nah." Clint shook his head with a smirk, pouring another glob of batter into the pan.

Another ten minutes passed before Clint offered everyone plates and told them to have at the stack of at least thirty pancakes. Within another three, everyone had grabbed what they wanted and moved to the table with the butter and syrup.

"Alright, I officially nominate Legolas to cook." Tony said with a bright grin after his first bite, everyone digging in with enthusiasm.

Muffled sounds of agreement came from around the table, and Clint snorted but gave a smirk.

"If you're lucky." he told them matter of factly.

* * *

Later that day, Steve looked up when he heard someone approach where he had pulled a chair out onto the balcony off the top floor and sat down with his sketch book. Turning, he saw Clint walking up to stand next to him, expression darkened in some emotion the Captain couldn't identify.

"Hey, Cap." the archer greeted tonelessly, and Steve instantly became somewhat concerned.

"Hawkeye. What's wrong?" he asked, confused

"Nothing." Barton blew off his concern quickly, though there was no change to his expression. "Listen, could you answer me something?"

Steve nodded, feeling his concern intensify when the younger man lowered his gaze to ask his question, his voice almost inaudible.

"Could you, ah… tell me where Coulson's buried?"

The Captain's confusion lessened, becoming sympathy instead. They had held Agent Coulson's funeral only two days after the alien invasion and subsequent battle, before Thor had taken Loki back to Asgard. He would admit that he, along with everyone else, had been shocked when Hawkeye had refused to go to the service. Even Natasha hadn't seemed pleased with her partner's actions, but did seem to understand to an extent, telling them only that Coulson had been her and Barton's handler, and that the archer had been working with him since he'd joined SHIELD seven years ago. Ever since, not one of them had mentioned Coulson, and especially not around Barton. It seemed now though that the archer was ready to deal with his handler's death.

"Why didn't you just ask Agent Romanoff?" the Captain asked carefully, knowing that the two agents had gone down to the training gym together after breakfast.

"Because she would have come with me." Barton said, no question in his voice. "And this is just something I have to do alone."

Steve nodded in understanding, flipping to the back of his sketch book and writing down the address of the cemetery before he ripped out the page and handed it to the archer. He knew what it was like to lose people that you had worked closely with in a high-stress environment. And he couldn't blame Hawkeye for his actions and decisions.

"You sure you want to go by yourself?" he asked gently, concern flaring in his eyes again, but Barton just shook his head wordlessly, nodded his thanks for the address before moving back inside and supposedly to the elevator without a sound.

For a few moments, Steve turned his attention back to his sketch, but after no more than a handful of moments he found that his worry for his team-mate's frame of mind wouldn't let him concentrate. Slowly and mindful of his healing injuries, he stood and made his own way back inside, searching out the rest of his team.

Clint audibly heard his breath hitch as he neared the clearly recently placed, polished stone. Even so, he forced himself to continue forward until he finally lowered himself down to sit on the ground diagonal to its left.

For a long time, he just sat in silence staring emotionlessly at the headstone and thinking about his mentor. Coulson had been his handler from the very beginning, had personally pitched SHIELD to him, then just a stubborn eighteen year old kid with authority problems fresh into federal prison for a hit gone sloppy. He'd been working contracts for a year; had made quite a name for himself and had coincidentally found himself on SHIELD's radar. Coulson had considered him a potential asset, and had convinced Fury to give him a chance.

Obviously Clint had been wary at first, having learned the hard way that he couldn't trust anyone, but getting out of prison had appealed to him, as well as Coulson's offer. Having a /reason/ to do what he did that was a hell of a lot better than money. And eventually, he'd learned to trust Coulson. He still considered him the one man he'd ever met that was worth looking up to.

He couldn't shake the almost overwhelming guilt and knowledge that the only reason Phil had had to face a freed Loki in the first place; had died, was because of him. Because he had led the attack on the helicarrier. It was for that reason, the guilt, that he hadn't gone to Phil's funeral in the first place. Now that he'd started to try to forgive himself for what he'd done under Loki's mind control, he felt that this was something he needed to do. He knew that Phil would never have blamed him, and would have shot whoever had suggested that it was his fault.

Clint wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed in complete silence, but eventually he tore his eyes away from the headstone to look over his shoulder when he felt someone approaching behind him. He wasn't sure what to think when he saw the rest of the Avengers silently walking up to him, their eyes drawn to the headstone as well. Part of him was aggravated with Steve for ratting him out. Another part was grateful for the company now that he was here.

Not one of them said a word, Natasha neatly folding herself onto the ground next to him, their sides brushing in a way that just emphasized the fact that she had his back. Only a few seconds later, Tony and Bruce took similar positions on the other side of the grave while Thor stood in front of it, arms crossed over his chest and Steve moved to stand behind Clint, clapping a hand onto the other man's shoulder.

"Were you close?" Tony broke the silence first, not that that fact surprised anyone. Clint just drew his knees up to his chest and laid his arms across them, sucking in a sharp breath.

"He's probably the only person I've ever looked up to." he admitted quietly, eyes moving back to the headstone instinctively. "Only person I've ever taken orders from, that's for sure."

"So that's why he didn't even blink when confronted with my stunning personality. He already had plenty of experience dealing with you." Tony said in a tone that suggested that admission explained everything. "He told me once that if I tried anything with him he'd taze me and watch Supernanny while I drooled on the carpet."

Bruce, Clint and Natasha gave quick snorts of amusement while Thor and Steve just looked lost but kept it to themselves, knowing that it wasn't the right time to bring up their questions.

"He saved me from myself." Clint heard himself admitting, not exactly sure why the words were spilling from his mouth, but not exactly keen to stop them either. "He's the one that got me out of prison; told me I could still manage something good with my life." he practically felt the shocked stares he got from that statement and moved to explain. "I was a contract killer before SHIELD. I screwed one up; got caught."

If any of his team-mates were put off by that revelation they didn't say anything.

"He was a good man." Thor spoke up, his voice deep with the honesty of his words. "Strong and loyal. He would have made a good mentor to any warrior."

They fell silent for a few moments before Clint spoke again, his head shaking slowly.

"When he pitched this whole 'Avengers Initiative' thing at me, I'm not going to lie, I thought he was nuts." the archer told them lightly, an exasperated grin on his face. "Course, that was just after the whole thing in Tokyo, so it might have partially been the pain meds too, but it was a pretty out there idea. I'm sitting there recovering from a bullet wound and he's telling me he wants to put me on a team with Captain-freaking-America, a demi-god from another realm, Iron Man and my partner."

That garnered small laugh out of everyone, while Clint's grin just widened slightly.

"I didn't really get to know him." Bruce admitted from where he sat beside Tony.

"Neither did I." Steve actually sounded guilty with that statement and Clint turned his head to look up at the super soldier.

"I bet he totally had a fan-girl moment when he met you." the archer predicted and Steve gave a sheepish grin.

"He was… enthusiastic." he said, which just made Tony chuckle and Natasha roll her eyes.

"What about you, Romanoff? Any stories you'd like to share?" the billionaire questioned and Natasha shifted almost uncomfortably before responding.

"Phil was the first one to back Clint's call not to kill me." she shared, her eyes darkening slightly. "He was the only one to never question my motives. I never was quite as close to him as Clint was, but I trusted him with my life."

No one responded to that for a while until Steve spoke up, his words directed at Clint.

"I know you said you wanted to come alone… but I just wanted you to know that you weren't alone in grieving for him. We all are. We may not have had the deep friendship you did with him, but we all mourned." the Captain said quietly, his voice knowing.

Clint turned his head back to look at him again, nodding his understanding and acceptance.

"Thanks." he said truthfully and Steve gave him a small smile, tightening his hand on the archer's shoulder for a moment before letting it slid off as Bruce slowly stood.

"We'll give you a minute. We'll be waiting when you're ready." he said, and Clint noticed that no one protested as the doctor spoke for all of them, but instead moved to follow.

Except for Natasha, who stayed unmoving at his side. Once the two assassins were alone, she spoke.

"This is what he wanted for you." she reminded gently and Clint let out a long breath and nodded, rocking to his feet as well and moving to lightly run his hand across the top of the headstone.

"I know." he said simply, before returning to her side, seeing as she had stood as well, and walking back towards where the rest of the Avengers were waiting by the gate.

He couldn't help smiling at the sight and giving his head a slight shake out of almost exasperated amusement.

"Dinner, my treat." Tony announced when the two assassins had caught back up with the group.

"I think at this point everything's your treat, Stark." Clint pointed out with a smirk. "We've been living in your place and eating your food for about a while now."

"Legolas has a point. He's buying." Tony corrected, but the archer's expression didn't darken.

"Only if I can pick." he agreed, and Tony laughed.

"You just honestly agreed to buy for this group? Alright, man, where to."

They ended up in a little restaurant that Tony was vaguely able to recognize as Asian in some variety. In the end, it was only Clint, Natasha and Bruce that were able to actually consume anything substantial from the menu. Even Thor was somewhat put off by the extreme spiciness.

"How do you eat this volcano?" Tony had gasped after only half a bite, his eyes watering.

"I've travelled a lot." Clint shrugged, easily eating what was in his bowl. "I like picking up different cuisines when I'm in a new city."

"Yours is a little spicier." Natasha commented offhandedly, and Clint gave a slight nod, looking down into his bowl with a critical eye.

"Sweet Jesus." Tony muttered, pushing his bowl away from him slightly and draining his cup of water in a few huge gulps.

Steve was trying to be a bit more polite about it, but even he seemed alarmed.

"There seem to be many styles of food on Midgard." Thor said carefully, still examining his dish almost warily.

Clint gave a smirk and a nod, continuing his meal and conversing lightly with Bruce, who seemed completely at ease as well. Then again, the doctor had spent a lot of time moving from place to place as well, and had most recently spent time in India and other parts of Asia, so he didn't find that to be surprising.

"Barton, just so you know, this was a horrible way to prove a point." Tony muttered, but it only earned him a smug smirk from the archer in question.

* * *

**There you have it. Tell me what you think, and the new chapter will be along shortly. Just some back story to what I imagine was a very strong friendship between Clint and Coulson in this chapter.  
~Dogstar**


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome to chapter five, everyone. A big thank you to everyone that has alerted/reviewed/favorited this story, your feedback keeps me writing. **

**I'm currently thinking that I should be able to finish this up in four chapters, but that number could easily go up, depending on what ideas I do or don't use.**

**Again, I apologize if the Russian I use in this chapter is incorrect, online translators aren't always the best, but it was all I had to work with.**

**I always appreciate any feedback you're willing to give me about a chapter or where the story's headed, so don't be afraid to drop me a review. I hope you enjoy the new chapter.**

**As always, I own nothing.**

* * *

"Cap, seriously. I'm telling you it's not that bad of an idea." Clint said, a ring of amused honesty to his voice. He was standing across from a clearly reluctant Steve in the training gym of Stark Tower, Natasha going a round with a punching bag a few feet away while Thor was sitting back and watching the argument between the archer and the super soldier with a raised eyebrow.

It had been two weeks since the battle against the mutant animals in Boston, and the Captain's side had long since healed. In those weeks a visible change had come over the team, finding them to be spending more time together than any of them had previously expected. Wednesdays had become the designated night for Clint to cook dinner rather than their typical order-in meals. Everyone was thrilled with that development, as the archer's cooking far surpassed anything the rest of them were capable of.

Currently, however, Clint was engaged in trying to convince Steve to spar with him. The super soldier had watched him and Natasha go at it before, and had been deeply impressed, but it seemed that that feeling didn't extend to personally sparring with the archer.

In a way, Clint could understand the Captain's reluctance; a dead on blow from the super soldier could potentially be very harmful to him. Even so, the assassin knew he was fast, and didn't plan on _letting_ Steve get a hit in.

"Clint, I am not going to hurt you." Steve protested, for what had to be the millionth time, but Clint just rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest to mirror the super soldier's stance.

"Exactly. Come on, just try it once. If it's a bad decision, I think I'll get the memo pretty quick. You spar with Thor." the archer tried a new tactic, but both Steve and Thor gave snorts at that.

"Hawk, do not take this as offense, but your strength does not rival mine." the demi-god pointed out, though Clint could tell he was sorely interested.

"I'm not saying it does." Clint told him, before looking back to Steve, who looked to be almost close to relenting. "Once. Five minutes, we'll see how it goes."

Steve gave a long sigh, and Clint smirked, knowing he had won.

Eyes flashing triumphantly, he leapt lithely onto the sparring mat, casting a quick glance around him and above him to get a good bearing of what was around him to use in his favor. He wasn't deluded into thinking a fight with Steve was going to be easy. But training with a super soldier wouldn't allow for any of his skills to be lacking.

The only object around him that could potentially be of any use were the metal rafters that now went across the expanse of the gym, which Tony had installed for reasons no one could ever get out of him last week. Even so, they all knew it was for Clint's benefit, and the archer had already made considerable use of them when he was training.

Still looking uncertain, Steve followed him, setting up carefully across from Clint. Natasha paused in her own workout to watch, moving over to sit beside Thor.

"Don't you dare pull your punches with me, Cap." Clint warned, his eyes and expression darkening and smoothing into focus. "I'm not a china doll. And I'm sure as hell not pulling mine."

Steve gave an exasperated shake of his head but nodded.

"This was your idea." he reminded and Clint just gave him a smirk, so he too visibly shifted focus, eyes narrowing.

The archer stayed where he was, letting the Captain make the first move. When it came in the form of Steve lunging forward with a solid punch aimed for his rib cage, Clint allowed himself a half moment of triumph that the blow was not being reined in at all before he gathered himself and dodged with a neat spin to the side, not yet retaliating.

There was surprise on Steve's face when he realized that the archer wasn't where he had been mere moments before and his punch landed on nothing but empty air. Quickly though, he too spun and continued his attack with a precision and strategy that was typical from him. Every blow though, met absolutely nothing. Clint was sure to wait until the last possible second before dodging to ensure that Steve expended the maximum amount of wasted energy each time. It was far more difficult in practice than it was in his head, his opponent having some lightning-fast reflexes of his own.

"And you were worried about me." Clint taunted, physically flipping around the Captain, landing in a graceful crouch behind him and catching Steve with a spinning kick to the ribs just as he turned to face him again.

The blow connected and Steve scowled but barely seemed to feel it, instead wrapping his hand around the archer's foot and pulling him around. Clint went with it, landing on his hands and ripping his ankle out of the Captain's grip, instead contorting his body into a back handspring, landing gracefully a few feet away on the edges of the mat. Steve was on him again before he could fully right himself, and was forced to block the next flurry of punches, hiding a wince at their strength and realizing that he was definitely going to have bruises across his forearms.

As soon as he could, he aimed a quick few punches of his own to the Captain's shoulder and stomach, scowling when they were all blocked. He ducked to avoid the next blows, catching the edges of one across his right shoulder as he shot out a leg and swiped it into the back of Steve's knees, collapsing at least one of them.

As he personally rolled to the side, Steve caught one of his upper arms in a vice grip, pinning him half way through the roll so that he was on his stomach. Quickly, before the super soldier could solidify his hold, Clint entangled his legs with the older man's and pulled his knees up to his chest in one admittedly difficult movement, flipping their positions somewhat so Steve was at least partly beneath him. From there it was nothing to send his free elbow back into the Captain's solar plexus, the grip on his other arm loosening slightly.

His shoulder tweaked painfully when he leapt away, but he ignored it, retreating back across the mat to regain his breath and keep a wary eye on Steve as he stood.

"You're quick." Steve admitted with a slight incline of his head as he too rolled to his feet, launching himself at Clint again. This time he feinted with two punches to the archer's right side, sending a sharp kick into his thigh at the last moment.

Clint spat a curse when his leg buckled without his consent, but he smoothed the action into a roll to minimize impact, coming back up within the second, making Steve give a slight blink. Smirking, the assassin dove forward, planting his hands in the space between him and his opponent before springing back up, his feet catching the Captain square in the chest.

Steve actually stumbled, but not as much as Clint had expected, and the super soldier had time to step back and aim a harsh spinning kick to the archer's sternum as he landed.

Dully, Clint realized what the man had been worried about as the blow launched him up and back, his chest now on fire with pain. Luckily nothing seemed broken, but he had bigger problems, seeing as he was headed straight for the wall. Grunting, he blindly reached up, smirking when one of his hands snagged the metal of a rafter beam. His other hand closely followed, and he then used his considerable momentum to artfully swing himself around, back at a shocked looking Steve. Due mostly to his distraction, Clint landed on his shoulders, wrapping one leg around his throat lightly. From there, he used his other leg in Steve's back to get him on the ground. Within moments the super soldier was on his stomach with one of the archer's legs carefully around his throat and the other braced against his shoulder blades.

Clint was exceedingly careful with the entire move, knowing very well that it had a propensity for being deadly, and he sure as hell wasn't going to kill Captain America in a sparring match. He liked Steve too much.

"You could probably try to continue this." Clint said breathlessly, well aware of the throbbing in his chest from the kick that probably _should_ have broken his sternum. "But I wouldn't advise it. Not for a sparring match."

"Yeah. Yield." Steve said, his voice muffled slightly and Clint instantly untangled his legs from around the Captain's neck, collapsing back onto the mat with a muted groan.

"You got distracted." the archer said in what would have been a sing-song voice if he hadn't been so out of breath.

"Yeah, well, forgive me. I thought I'd just broken you in half." Steve retorted, rolling into a sitting position and rubbing his neck.

"Rule one, Cap: _never_ let Hawkeye get above you." Natasha's voice sounded from the side of the mat and both Clint and Steve looked up, having momentarily forgotten Natasha's and Thor's presence. Clint noted with slight surprise that Tony and Bruce had joined them as well, and everyone but Natasha was slack jawed.

"Yeah, I realize that." Steve said good naturedly, just as Tony seemed to regain his voice, his tone more awed than any of them had ever heard it.

"That. Was. The. _Definition_. Of. Badass." he enunciated every word slowly, before the excitement seemed to set in. "Holy crap!"

"It was indeed an impressive bout." Thor agreed, his eyes bright. "It seems our fears for the Hawk's safety were unfounded, Captain."

"I told you so." Clint called from where he still laid sprawled out on the mat, his breath slowly returning to normal.

"We'll have to do that more often." Steve admitted with a grin, looking to Clint. "As long as you're up to it, Clint."

"Sure, just let me figure out how to piece my sternum back together." the archer said as he slowly sat up, hiding a wince and blinking in surprise when not half a second later, Steve was crouching at his side, eyes concerned and guilty.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-,"

Clint cut him off quickly with a wave of his hand and a reassuring grin.

"Cap, I'm fine. It was a joke." he said lightly before flipping to his feet with ease, ignoring the protesting throbs from his chest. He spread his arms once he was on his feet as if to say _'See?'_

Even so the archer knew that he had underestimated just how much strength was behind the super soldier's blows. Despite that, however, he would gladly do it again. No one but Natasha had ever been able to give him an actual challenge in sparring and by now they knew each other's moves better than their own. It was fun to have a new opponent that could give him a run for his money.

Steve sighed and didn't look convinced, but he stood anyway, still watching Clint warily.

"That thing with the rafters was impressive." he changed the subject as they both stepped off the mat, joining the rest of the team.

"I was a carnie when I was younger. When I wasn't working on my marksmanship, it was acrobatics." Clint said with a shrug, nonchalantly throwing out a bit of his past with more ease than he expected. It was getting easier and easier to confide in his new, messed up group of friends.

"You were a carnie?" Tony demanded, and Clint looked to him, giving a groan at the undisguised excitement in the billionaire's eyes.

"I don't _want_ to know what you're thinking, Stark, but the answer is no." he said matter of factly, causing everyone in the room to laugh.

"Oh, come on. You don't even know what I was going to say." Tony protested, and Clint rolled his eyes as he caught the towel Natasha tossed at him and using it to wipe the sweat from his face.

"I can only imagine the possibilities." the archer said dryly, just as JARVIS' voice came from above them.

'_Mr. Stark, Director Fury is on the line. He's requesting to speak with Agent Barton.'_

"Patch him though." Clint said when Tony glanced to him questioningly, glancing to Natasha with a slight frown. When there was an audible click, he continued, his tone darkening to the emotionlessness the team hadn't heard from him in two weeks. "Agent Barton, sir."

'_Barton, you've got a mission.'_ the SHIELD director said shortly and everyone watched as Clint's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Sir, I haven't had my psych. eval." he reminded, confusion gracing his expression but not his voice.

'_I'm aware, but this takes priority.'_ Fury said shortly, not sounding pleased. _'The Council isn't happy either, but we're in agreement that this needs to be taken care of as quickly and discretely as possible. That means you, Barton.'_

"Very well, sir. Briefing?" Clint asked, meeting Natasha's eyes again. He could see her slight hesitancy, but he sent her a reassuring look. He could handle a mission. Might even be good for him, to do something so inherently normal. He didn't know whether or not it boded well for his mental state that 'normal' was killing someone. Of course, that someone was always some evil bastard that needed to be taken out to protect innocents. That he was definitely okay with.

'_1500 hours. There will be a Quinjet on the roof of the tower at 1400.'_ Fury said, no room for negotiation in his tone, and Clint nodded.

"Yes sir." he said, listening as the line clicked dead as Fury hung up.

"They want to give you a psych. evaluation?" Tony asked, a slight frown on his face, but Clint just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Stark, I had a psychotic demi-god in my head and I ran around killing people and blowing up engines. Why _wouldn't_ they want me checked out?" he asked rhetorically, before starting for the elevator. "I've got to get ready. I'll see you guys when I get back."

"Good luck." Steve called after him and Clint waved a hand to signify he'd heard, as Natasha followed after him.

"What is an evaluation of psych?" Thor asked after the two assassins had left, turning to look at Bruce and Tony, seeing as Steve looked just as confused as he did.

"It's a sort of test where you sit down with a psychologist, who is a person that studies the human mind." Bruce started, but Tony cut across him, looking vaguely unhappy.

"Basically, there're checking whether or not someone's screwed up in the head." the billionaire said shortly. "Honestly, I don't think any of us would pass one."

"They do not believe that the Hawk is still under Loki's influence." Thor said, more a question than a statement, his eyes concerned.

Bruce just sighed. "I wouldn't put it past them."

* * *

It was three days before Clint returned to the tower, looking exhausted and moving stiffly as he stepped out of the elevator.

"Hey, Clint." Steve offered from where he stood in the kitchen. "You alright?"

"I haven't slept in 36 hours." he said as if it explained everything, pulling his quiver off his back and setting it and his collapsed bow on the island counter. He then proceeded to fall onto a stool and give his head a quick shake, ignoring the way Bruce was now looking at him from where he sat on the stool to his right.

"Why?" the doctor asked expectantly, clearly disapproving.

"I can never sleep before a hit. And there hasn't been a chance to after yet." Clint said with a shrug, accepting the mug of coffee Steve offered to him with a nod of thanks. Vaguely, he realized it was quite early in the morning, which would explain why Steve and Bruce were the only two occupants of the tower currently awake.

"Everything go alright?" the Captain asked and Clint nodded once.

"Yeah. Easy mission; in and out." the archer said, deciding not to inform the two older men of the less than 'alright' experiences he'd had on the helicarrier. The mission had been fine; blissfully routine. The target had never known he was there until an arrow had sprouted from his chest. He'd expected the mission that both Fury and the Council believed so urgent would have been a little more difficult, but Remy Laurent had been completely oblivious to the target he had put onto his back when he started dabbling in his friend's arms trafficking business. Of course, the other agents on the helicarrier hadn't taken well to his presence on base again.

"-some breakfast?"

He pulled out of his thoughts to hear the end of Steve's question, which had probably been asking if he wanted some breakfast.

"Sure." he nodded slowly, and within moments there were two eggs and some bacon on a plate in front of him. "That was quick."

Steve just smiled at him before going back to the stove.

Clint had barely taken a bite before Natasha had appeared at his side, eyes questioning.

"Everything went fine." he told her with a slight roll of his eyes and she gave a short nod before stealing one of his bacon strips and taking the stool to his left.

"I know very well that you can do your job, Agent Barton." she said matter of factly, smirking to his scowl at his lost bacon. "I also know that if you don't get some sleep soon, you're going to get cranky, and we have to deal with it."

"I take offense to that." Clint said matter of factly, before looking around. "Thor and Stark still sleeping?"

"Thor is. Tony's not here." Bruce told him, before explaining to the archer's questioning glance. "He had some things he had to take care of in California for a few days. He's not due back for another four."

"Some Stark Industries thing?" Clint questioned, turning his plate away from Natasha to keep his bacon safe.

"That and a convention. He asked me to go with him for the convention, but I'm not really that comfortable with crowds for obvious reasons." Bruce said and Clint gave a slight nod, understanding the doctor's reluctance.

"Four days of quiet. I'm fine with that." he said, and Steve chuckled while Bruce and Natasha just gave him long-suffering looks. After he finished his breakfast he retreated into his room to get some sleep, well aware of Natasha slipping in behind him.

"How did things go on base?" she asked, and Clint sighed, turning to look at her as he set his bow and quiver down on his dresser.

"I'm fine, Tasha." he said evasively, and she narrowed her eyes into a glare.

"If they went at you again, I want to know about it Clint." she said matter of factly, forcing him to meet her gaze. He couldn't lie to her like he could everyone else. She had learned to read him, just as he could read her.

And now, she could see the tinge of guilt that had formed in his eyes again, along with the uncertainty that he would never allow anyone else to see. Natasha hated that those feelings were back, and knew that it was solely due to whatever the other agents on the helicarrier had said to him. And allowed to keep to himself and bottle up those emotions as he always did, he'd lose all the progress he'd made with himself in the past few weeks.

"Вы можете сказать мне." (You can tell me.) she continued quietly when he hesitated, sitting cross-legged on his bed and inviting him to join her.

"Нейпир только управлял его ртом. Ничто не случилось физически." (Napier just ran his mouth. Nothing happened physically.) he told her wearily, sitting down beside her and rubbing a hand across the back of his neck. He reverted to Russian easily when she did, barely having to think about it.

"Вы перемещаетесь довольно натянуто без пользы случение." (You're moving pretty stiffly for nothing happening.) she said, though she knew he wouldn't really outright lie to her.

"Я боролся с Капитаном Америка несколько дней назад, и он получил мертвого на выстреле на моей груди." (I fought Captain America a few days ago and he got a dead on shot to my chest.) Clint said dryly, his eyebrows raising as he looked to meet his partner's gaze again. "Я сидел на крышах в течение двух дней, разведывая миссию, и затем заканчивая сказал миссию." (I've been sitting on rooftops for two days scouting a mission, and then completing said mission.)

"Не будьте шикарны со мной, глупым Ястребом." (Don't be smart with me, silly Hawk.) Natasha scolded lightly, instead leaning into him and smiling slightly to herself when his arm snaked around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"I think I am _very_ intelligent." he protested lightly, turning back to English and giving her a grin. "I'm going to get some sleep, Tasha. Though you are welcome to stay."

"You stink. Take a shower first." she told him dispassionately which just made him give a slight huff before moving to the bathroom.

One short, hot and admittedly relaxing shower later, Clint collapsed onto his bed and grabbed his pillow to stuff it under his head despite the fact that his hair was still spiked and damp from the shower. To his slight amusement, Natasha had grabbed a book and had taken up residence on one side of his bed. Because it was massive, that didn't really bother him. It wouldn't have bothered him anyway, though.

They'd taken to sleeping in the same bed a few times over the last few weeks, it was nothing new. Often the only thing that could help either his or his partner's nightmares was each other. Natasha was probably the only one Clint would trust after a nightmare to calm him down, and as solitary a person as he was, he liked being with her.

Within moments he had drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The four days before Tony's return passed without much incident. Steve was sure to make Bruce get out of the lab for a few hours every day, listening unimpressed to the doctor's protests. Clint decided to give Steve a crash course in the major events he had missed over the 70 years he'd been frozen with the help of some History channel documentaries. Thor had joined them, apparently interested in the planet's history as well. Natasha sat with them mostly to make sure that Clint didn't confuse the Captain too badly.

On the fourth day, they were half-way through a documentary on the moon landing, Steve and Thor staring enraptured at the screen when Pepper came onto the floor, looking slightly frustrated.

"Have any of you heard from Tony today?" she asked as she approached, Bruce muting the TV as she did, having joined the group an hour or two before at Steve's insistence.

"No." the doctor spoke as everyone else nodded agreement, looking to the Stark Industries CEO in confusion. "I thought he was due back today?"

"He is. But he's not answering his phone and he hasn't showed up at the airport to take the jet back either, I just called them." Pepper said, clearly concerned.

"Knowing Stark, he probably got caught up with some new gadget at the convention." Steve said placatingly, well aware how focused the billionaire could get when he was working on something. He'd probably end up staying days longer than he'd planned if he found something worth looking into.

Pepper gave an exasperated half sigh and nod of agreement even though she didn't look entirely convinced.

"It's just not like him to make himself unreachable." she said. "Not even JARVIS could get a hold of him, and that's definitely unusual."

"JARVIS, can you get a GPS lock from anything on Stark?" Clint spoke up suddenly, raising a defensive eyebrow at the surprised looks he was given.

'_I'm afraid not, Agent Barton.'_ the AI's voice came from above them, and Pepper instantly frowned.

"JARVIS, can't you track the GPS Tony put in the arc reactor?" she asked, knowing that he had done so on the off chance that one of his arc reactors was ever stolen.

'_No, Ms. Potts, the signal from that device is being scrambled.'_

Steve frowned at that, stiffening slightly. He may not know much about 'GPS' or 'signals', but scrambling sounded like something that had to be done on purpose. Judging by the way Pepper and Bruce had paled, and Clint and Natasha's expressions had darkened, it was a valid assumption.

"When was the last time you were able to get a solid lock on Tony's position?" Bruce asked quickly, looking to Pepper and meeting her now openly worried gaze.

'_Three days ago, Dr. Banner.'_ JARVIS informed them. _'My security protocols were overridden at that point, preventing me from informing you of the loss of signal.'_

"By who?" Pepper demanded, her eyes widening in shock and fear, something that none of them missed.

Looking around himself, Steve found that all of his teammates were wearing similar expressions, himself included.

'_I'm not aware, Ms. Potts.'_ the AI said, and Pepper's eyes turned to the gathered team.

"Not just anyone can over-ride JARVIS. We have to find him." she said, her voice shaking slightly, and Steve stood, giving her a slight nod.

"We will. The first thing we need to do is call Director Fury. See if SHIELD knows anything we don't." he said, sure to keep his voice calm and firm.

All of the Avengers recognized his change in tone, and looked up to him. The certainty in his voice had been clear. They may not have been a team very long, but when one of their own was missing, they weren't going to stop until they found him.

* * *

**Right, there you are. Yes, I do in fact enjoy being evil to my characters. Poor Tony.**

**Anyway leave me with a review if you can, if not, be on the look out for the next chapter.  
~Dogstar**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here you are everyone, a brand new chapter. As is customary, I thank everyone that has reviewed to, favorited or alerted this story. You all keep me writing.**

**Also, I'm going to apologize in advance if anything about the whole GPS-tracking thing is laughably horrible or wrong. Unfortunetly, I'm no expert.**

**Other than that, please read and enjoy. And leave me a review, if you're feeling generous.**

**As always, I own nothing.**

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Steve, Thor, Bruce, Clint and Natasha were all seated around the meeting table they'd used before on the helicarrier's bridge, staring at Fury.

The SHIELD director had informed them on the phone that he was already aware of Stark's status as missing, and that he had something that the team needed to see.

"Sir, we should have been informed immediately if you knew something was wrong with a member of our team." Steve said tersely, his tone short and obviously forced to be polite.

"Captain, we've been trying to locate Stark since we were made aware of his disappearance. There was no reason to bring all of you in until there was something you could do about it." Fury said matter of factly, no apology in his tone.

None of the Avengers responded, anger and worry having formed on all of their faces to some degree. Even the two normally stony-faced assassins had their eyes narrowed into slight glares which they directed at Fury.

Looking around at them, Fury gave an aggravated sigh and clasped his hands behind his back before continuing.

"According to the intelligence we've been able to gather, Stark was abducted on the street on the way back to his hotel from a press conference. Until today, we haven't been able to gain much more than that. The people who took him are smart, they seem to know how our surveillance works, and they've managed to almost completely bypass it."

"Which considering that this is supposed to be the best covert intelligence agency in the world, tells us something significant about who we're going up against." Clint said stiffly, his tone devoid of emotion and shoulders stiff.

"What happened today?" Natasha asked, referring to the director's earlier statement and watching as Steve, Thor and Bruce leaned forward, clearly interested as well. Giving another sigh, Fury nodded slightly to Agent Hill before he responded, video screens appearing in the glass table in front of each Avenger.

"Today, we received this video." he told them emotionlessly, taking a small step back from the table as the screens flickered to life.

Steve only turned his eyes to the screen and away from Fury when the video started, almost afraid to see what was in it. The SHIELD director gave next to nothing away with his expression and his tone, and the Captain didn't know what to expect.

All he had to see was the first half second of film to make his stomach drop and his fists clench almost painfully at his sides.

The video was set in a dimly-lit white washed room that wasn't very big at all. Tony Stark was in the middle of it, arms held taut above him by metal chains wound around his wrists. The length of the chains left him in an upright kneeling position, a majority of his body weight seeming to rest on his arms. His head was hanging down limply, the glow of the arc reactor in his chest barely visible through the stringy, dark strands of hair. He was shirtless, a sheen of sweat covering his trembling body.

Silence reigned across the group seated at the table on the helicarrier's bridge as the man slowly raised his head with a grunt of effort, revealing him to be without a doubt Tony Stark, if the presence of the arc reactor hadn't been enough.

'_You know,'_ he started, his voice hoarse and raspy, normally bright eyes dulled but glaring_. 'I'm not going to tell you wannabe Energizer Bunnies anything, so I don't know why you-,'_

His words were cut off abruptly as he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw tightly shut, a barely audible but steady hum of electricity starting up from somewhere Steve couldn't see. The only place the Captain could guess that the current could be coming from was the chains that encircled the billionaire's wrists, seeing as nothing else was touching him. The captive Avenger's body writhed and jerked spasmodically for at least a minute before it finally collapsed against the chains limply again as the quiet hum fell silent.

Tony panted and dropped his head again as he tried to recover, the shakes that racked his body having impossibly worsened to the point that the chains too shook, the noise that accompanied their movement filling the small room.

Steve didn't so much as twitch a muscle, keeping almost painfully still, his eyes locked onto the screen. To see _Tony Stark_ of all people reduced to that from his normally playfully and insultingly sarcastic self was just wrong. And it caused waves of raw anger to roll through him that he had only felt a few times before in his life. One such time had been seeing Bucky trapped in a similar situation.

Only then, he had been able to help his friend. Now all he could do was watch, not knowing what had been done to the man he had begun to think of as a friend before or since this video had been made. He couldn't allow his teammate, his friend, to be hurt again.

And still, all he could do was sit and watch helplessly as Tony spoke again haltingly, his head raising slower than it had before.

'_I've got this friend.'_ the billionaire started breathlessly, clearly trying to downplay whatever pain he was feeling with a try at his normal cocky tone. _'He's _kinda_ a demi-god. And he chucked lightning at me once. So after that this' a kiddie ride.'_

Steve vaguely heard Thor mutter something unintelligible under his breath, but he didn't take any of his attention away from the scene in the video long enough to try to figure out what it was, especially as a voice belonging to an unseen man sounded.

'_Why don't you tell us more about your friends?'_ the voice questioned coolly and patiently, muffled slightly for some reason, but Tony just gave a disbelieving snort despite his position.

'_Ha. Really, that was almost creative. Clever. Tell me, how many languages would you like the word 'no' in? If it's more than like two, I can't help you.'_

The hum of electricity started again suddenly, louder than before, and Tony's body instantly gave a sharp jerk, before a cry of pain tore from his throat.

Steve certainly wasn't the only one that flinched violently at the sound, and after a few moments, he forced his eyes away not able to watch any longer. Not when he could do nothing to help. Instead he turned to look around the table at the rest of his teammates.

Clint was staring down at the screen with hard-set features, a muscle working rhythmically in his jaw and a decidedly dangerous glint in his eyes. Natasha was watching the scene unfold with stoic detachment, her eyes expressing nothing. Thor was staring down in unmasked fury, clenching and unclenching his fists as if he'd like to do nothing more than fling himself through the screen and personally throttle whoever was responsible for the screams that were still beating into their skulls.

Looking to Bruce, however, Steve felt himself freeze again.

The doctor was looking a little green around the gills, and not from nausea. His hands were clenched and pulled tightly to his chest, and his eyes were flashing with jade.

"Turn it off." Steve spoke to Fury, even though his eyes didn't leave Bruce's almost trembling form.

The screens almost instantly faded to black, and everyone's eyes followed Steve's gaze, even though Bruce didn't seem to notice that the attention of almost everyone on the bridge had turned to him.

"Bruce," Steve started quietly, ignoring as everyone that wasn't seated at the table reached slowly and carefully for some form of weapon. The important thing was that while the Avengers themselves were wary of Bruce and the possibility of him changing, they had all shifted slightly, shielding the doctor from everyone else and the threat they posed to their teammate. "Bruce, you need to calm down."

"He's the only one." Bruce said stiffly, his voice shaking with rage. "The only one that trusted me from the very beginning. That treated me like a human being instead of a time-bomb."

Steve winced slightly, and wasn't surprised to see the others give similar reactions around him. It was true. They were all guilty of distrusting the doctor in the beginning. Even still, none of them had relaxed around him as much as Tony had; showed so much blatant disregard for Banner's occasional romp as a giant green rage monster.

"I know, Bruce." Steve admitted, seeing no reason to try to say the doctor was wrong, when he wasn't. "But letting the Hulk loose now won't help Tony. It won't help us find him."

The doctor didn't look up or acknowledge his words in anyway, his eyes closing tightly as he fought to keep his breathing calm.

"We've got another room prepared if we need it." Fury spoke in quiet undertones to Steve, but in the tense silence of the bridge, everyone heard.

Bruce gave a visible flinch at those words, while the rest of the Avengers stiffened defensively. Natasha gave a very convincing growl under her breath and even the Captain cast a clearly disapproving look to the director before his eyes turned back to the doctor, his expression and tone softening.

"We wouldn't let them, Bruce, and you wouldn't need it anyway. We're going to need your help to find him, and get him home. I trust you, doctor." Steve said quietly but firmly, knowing that Dr. Banner would keep his other side under control, if for no other reason than to help Tony.

He also knew that not long ago, he would have found himself agreeing with Director Fury. But after living with the man, getting to know the brilliant scientist behind the monster, he knew that Bruce had control of himself. He could be trusted.

Slowly, the green tint to the doctor's skin faded and he let out a long sigh, the shakes calming from his hands and his arms loosening from where they had been pulled tightly to his chest. When his eyes blinked gratefully up to Steve, there wasn't a fleck of green marring their soft brown color.

"Thanks, Cap." he said softly, guilt and apology being the most prominent emotions in his tone.

"No problem." Steve said pointedly, even though he and the other Avengers were still tensed and ready, seeing as not all the agents on the bridge had lowered their weapons. Natasha was still glaring heatedly at the SHIELD director himself, while Clint's gaze flicked around the room consistently, eyes narrowed into warning. Thor was eyeing the weapons the agents held warily with a hint of anger in his eyes.

Bruce glanced around the table at his team, noting with a pang of what he refused to admit was hurt that all of them were coiled like springs to attack, even Steve, who was still watching him. He knew they were _right_ to be wary of him. He couldn't believe was had almost just happened, how many lives he had put at risk. He had been entirely unprepared to see Tony like that; to see his friend being tortured. The Other Guy had been just as furious as he was, and he had barely gotten a lid on himself in time to stop the change. Even now though, that all-consuming rage was boiling just beneath the surface, threatening to surge forward again if something wasn't done quickly to save Tony.

"Really, guys, I'm fine now." he said quietly, not meeting Steve's gaze again, partially ashamed of the tension and near-catastrophe he'd caused. "Sorry about that."

Fury was the first one to secure his weapon back into its holster wordlessly, his agents around the bridge slowly and cautiously following suit. Bruce winced when he noticed that his teammates were _still_ ram-rod straight and stiff. Clearly, they weren't ready to take him at his word, and he silently wrung his hands.

As soon as the last SHIELD agent on the bridge had secured their weapon, however, almost as one Clint, Natasha, Steve and Thor slowly relaxed back into their seats, looking to Fury expectantly, even though Natasha's gaze was still more of a glare.

When he noticed the shift in their attitudes, Bruce looked up and around at them in confusion, before his expression changed to almost hesitant awe. The other Avengers weren't wary _of_ him. They were wary of the other agents' threats _to_ him. The very idea threw his for a loop, unable to remember the last time somebody had been willing to protect him.

Mind reeling, Bruce barely caught the glance Clint tossed back to him, a quick wink following as soon as the doctor met his gaze before the archer spoke up, returning their attention to the much more pressing matter at hand.

"So, what do the bastards want?" he asked, eyes narrowing as they turned back to Fury, his tone suggesting that the information should have already been presented to them.

"Along with that clip, we also received some demands." Fury admitted, his eyes flicking to Bruce for a half a second before they returned to Clint. "Stark's captors want access to SHIELD's databases. Either from us, in return for him; or from him, in return for release. We believe that a branch of the newly formed terrorist cell responsible for the mishap in Boston has come into play here as well. None of the team of six men that were caught outside the research facility during the battle were of any help in locating any of their possible bases where Stark could be being kept. So far, none of our agents have had any luck in unscrambling the GPS signal from the arc reactor."

"I've had some experience scrambling and unscrambling signals. I could take a look at it." Clint offered, looking to Steve for his agreement, and the Captain gave a short nod.

"Bruce, you go with him. I don't doubt the two of you together can't crack… whatever it is you're doing." Steve said, and both archer and doctor stood, a tight grin forming on Bruce's face.

"Well, I'm not going to say no to getting out of _this_ touchy environment." he said mostly under his breath, motioning for Clint to lead the way and then following the assassin off the bridge as Steve began giving Thor and Natasha things to do as well.

They walked quickly down the helicarrier's hallway, Bruce a step behind Clint who knew the maze of metal hallways far better than he did.

"You know, none of us doubted you back there, doc." Clint spoke up suddenly, glancing back to meet Bruce's somewhat surprised gaze at the sudden admission. "We trust you more than those assholes."

"Thank you, Agent Barton." Bruce said, his surprise and gratitude coloring his voice, rubbing one hand along the back of his neck.

"Call me Clint." the archer said with a smirk, and Bruce gave him a grin in response, both of them lapsing into silence as they continued down the hallway.

Not two minutes later, however, Bruce became instantly wary and confused when he was shoved back and away from Clint by two SHIELD agents, whose sole focus was on the archer. As the doctor watched, one of them was able to get Clint's arms behind him and hold them tightly, while the other produced a knife and held it threateningly to the younger assassin's throat.

"I can't believe you have the audacity to even step back onto a SHIELD base, much less this one." the agent holding the knife spat furiously, eyes flashing.

Clint gave a few vain struggles but didn't make a sound, guilt sparking in his eyes before he completely locked down his emotions, expressing absolutely nothing.

Bruce took a single step forward, having seen more than enough. The Other Guy grumbled unhappily at the archer's treatment, but the doctor was more than able to keep a hold of himself after what had just transpired on the bridge. Of course, these other two SHIELD agents wouldn't know that.

"I kind of like this part of the ship." he said lightly, his head tilting slightly to the side as all three pairs of eyes turned to him; two pairs narrowed and one dull but slightly confused. "It's probably important in some fashion too. It'd be a shame to, you know, break it."

The two agents currently in the middle of an attack on the archer stiffened and shared a quick glance, before the one holding Clint's arms spoke up.

"This doesn't concern you, doctor." he said harshly, but Bruce just gave an unamused chuckle, crossing his arms over his chest.

"See that's where you're wrong." he corrected, pushing down the more insistent grumblings of the Other Guy and taking another step forward. "Barton and I, we're friends actually. And if you don't get your hands and that knife off of him, I will gladly let the Other Guy put you through the nearest wall. Or five."

One of Clint's eyebrows quirked upwards, clearly questioning, but Bruce just gave him a pointed look before flicking his gaze across the two, now very cautious SHIELD agents. They were both staring at the doctor in barely masked fear and panic, the one's grip obviously having loosened on Clint's arms, but the archer still didn't move seeing as the knife was still pressed firmly against his throat.

"Looks like you got yourself a bigger guard dog, Barton." the agent with the knife sneered as he slowly drew the blade away from the archer's neck. "What's the matter? Widow not working out for you? Seeing as you still can't seem to fight your own battles."

Anger almost instantly replaced the impassiveness on Clint's face, and he tore his arms out of the other agent's grip, taking maybe two seconds to pluck the knife from the other man's unsuspecting hand and point it unwaveringly right above his heart.

"I don't give a damn what you say about or do to me, but you _do not_ insult my teammates." the assassin said coolly, his eyes flashing. "Now get the hell out of here, Napier, and take Akers with you. Dr. Banner and I have a job to do."

The two agents scowled but slowly started to back away, seeming to realize they'd struck a nerve with their usually passive target, along with the other seemingly calm man with him. As soon as they had both disappeared down another hallway, Bruce stepped forward and Clint let his shoulders slump, a long sigh leaving his body.

"What the hell was that, Clint?" he demanded, even though he already had a pretty good idea of what was going on. Still, the fact that Barton had _allowed_ himself to be cornered like that with a knife held to his throat was worrying.

"None of the other agents like me much anymore." Clint said dryly, all the emotion having drained from his expression again. "Napier was the commander of a ten-man unit. There were only three of them left after the attack."

Bruce couldn't help a slight wince at that, reaching forward and lifting the archer's chin to get a look at the shallow cut that ran across his neck before Clint pulled his head away.

"I'm fine." he muttered under his breath, but Bruce just narrowed his eyes slightly.

"How many times has this happened, Clint?" he asked quietly, moving to step in front of the archer when he tried to walk away. "And why did you let them? I've seen you fight _Steve_."

"Can I honestly blame them, Bruce?" Clint asked, shaking his head. "I killed their friends; sometimes family members. My friends. How can I fight them when they're _right_?"

"They aren't right to hurt you, Clint, I thought you agreed with me that it wasn't your fault. That there was nothing you could have done to stop it." Bruce said with a frown, putting a hand on the archer's shoulder, and keeping it there even as he tried to shrug away.

"I do, it's just… harder here. With all of them. Those attacks are the main reason Tasha and I took Stark up on his offer to move in in the first place." Clint admitted, before he shook himself and started down the hallway again, this time not stopped by Bruce, who followed him.

"Clint, you can't let them do that to you." Bruce said quietly, before he dropped the subject and stepped up to walk beside the archer as opposed to behind him.

The team in the tech room Clint led them to were awaiting their arrival, though they weren't sure that they would be able to do more than had already been done. Clint and Bruce just sat side by side in front of a large screen, looking over the information and what the SHIELD team had already done.

The signal from Tony's GPS was binging across all seven continents, in some cases multiple times, and was far more advanced than anything Clint had dealt with before. He gave a quiet growl as he started looking over the tracking algorithm the team had started to work out.

"I'm telling you. The only thing worse than a terrorist cell is a smart terrorist cell." he grumbled, looking to his right to see that Bruce had produced his glasses and was reading over the algorithm.

Within moments, the doctor had opened a new program and had started drafting a new one, and Clint could immediately see the difference in what the doctor was trying to do. Clint threw in quiet suggestions whenever he had them, but otherwise left the scientist to it, knowing the other man probably had a better idea of what he was doing that Clint ever would.

It took a hour and a half, but finally Bruce ran his program, carefully watching as he started another GPS trace at the same time. He was well aware that both Clint and the SHIELD team were watching in bated breath, to see if it would work. The trace took a few moments, but after what seemed like hours but was in reality only minutes the computer beeped out a positive response, a blinking red dot forming over what looked to be empty desert in the middle of Nevada.

"Great job, Bruce." Clint said with a smirk, turning to a second computer beside him and bringing up satellite images of the indicated area. "Let's see what we're up against, shall we?"

* * *

Within twenty minutes, the Avengers and Fury had reconvened at their meeting table, Clint bringing up aerial satellite images of the small three-building compound the GPS signal had led them to.

"Bruce found him." the archer explained somewhat needlessly. "This is a private compound at least ten miles away from the nearest civilization in all directions in central Nevada. Based on size, I highly doubt this is the cell's main base of operations, but the way I see it, we go get Stark and worry about blowing the rest of the damn bastards sky-high later. All the patrols are ground based, you get me to one of those rooftops, and we'll be golden. I'd estimate a hundred- maybe a hundred fifty- hostiles at most."

Steve took in the information with a combination of relief and strategic indifference. He knew enough about what Barton did on a day-to-day basis to know that the assassin's input was invaluable, he'd be stupid to ignore what the man said.

"Do we know where exactly Tony is in this compound?" the Captain asked and Bruce took over, clearing his throat slightly.

"The nearest I could get it was the smallest building. The fact that I couldn't pinpoint it exactly leads me to believe that he'll be underground somehow, probably a basement. Thermal satellite seems to lean towards that too." the doctor explained stiffly, and Steve nodded again, looking to Natasha as the female assassin spoke.

"I took another look at the video like Steve asked me to. The only thing I can physically see that worries me about his condition is the way the arc reactor would flicker when they shocked him. I'm not exactly well versed in the technology, but I've never taken flickering to be very good." she told them and Bruce shifted quickly, his eyes narrowing.

"It's not. At all. We'll have to stop by the tower before we go get him so I can grab a spare from his lab. If it's flickering, it could possibly fail entirely, and that will kill him. I know how to change it out." the doctor told them, and at those words they all stiffened.

Steve looked to Fury next, his eyes narrowing slightly. "What kind of action are we authorized for, sir?"

"The only SHIELD restriction in this case would be that we have a strict no-negotiation policy with terrorists." Fury said dryly, one eyebrow raising. "And I highly doubt that will be a problem for you."

"No, sir." Steve said matter of factly as he stood, the rest of the team following suit in the same moment. "We're going to need transportation back to Stark Tower and then to Nevada."

"There's already a Quinjet waiting for you on the airstrip." the SHIELD director told them matter of factly, clasping his hands behind his back in a familiar motion. "Good luck Avengers. Report back once Stark is secure, and I'll have a medical team ready for him, and the helicarrier waiting nearby."

Giving him a short nod, Steve led the group out onto the airstrip, climbing into the only open and waiting Quinjet and greeting the pilot who confirmed that they were on the right bird.

Arriving back on the roof of Stark Tower, Steve paused before entering the elevator, turning his gaze to look over the silent, obviously determined group.

"Get suited up and get back here. Dr. Banner, grab the arc reactor Tony will need. And I don't recommend telling Pepper everything we've seen." he said, four short nods of acceptance meeting his words. That taken care of, they took the elevator down to their rooms, only Bruce staying on to continue to Tony's lab.

Pepper was waiting anxiously in the communal area of the floor, looking up sharply when they all exited the elevator, and stepping quickly forward.

"Well?" she demanded, and Steve paused, motioning for the rest of them to continue on while he spoke softly and carefully.

"We're going to get him, Ms. Potts." he assured her, meeting her gaze easily. "He should be fine, and we will let you know as soon as we have him safe. I'll tell you everything when I have more time, I promise."

"Of… of course." she said briskly, though none of the fear or panic had left her eyes, which were bright with unshed tears. "Don't worry about me, go."

Nodding in acceptance, Steve continued into his room, suiting up as quickly as he could manage and grabbing his shield to anchor in its place on his arm.

Within fifteen minutes they'd all made it back onto the Quinjet, suited up, armed and ready. Bruce carried a small satchel containing the brightly glowing spare arc reactor, along with a spare pair of pants for himself which he quietly wondered if Clint would hold for him.

For now, they were all silent, seeing as this was only the beginning of a flight that would take hours, even with the Quinjet's enhanced speeds. Not one of them was looking forward to the wait.

* * *

**And there we are. Poor Tony. At least the team is coming for him. **

**If you feel like leaving me a review, please do so, otherwise keep an eye out for the next chapter.  
~Dogstar**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone, and welcome back. A big thank you to everyone that has given me feedback for this story in any way, or even just read it. I honestly get excited when the number of hits to a chapter goes up.**

**Anyway, I have a quick question for you guys. Do you prefer the longer 6,000-ish word chapters like in the beginning of the story, or the slightly shorter 4,000-ish ones that I've been putting up recently? I'm just curious.**

**Other than that, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'd appreciate any reviews you'd be willing to leave.**

**As always, I own nothing.**

* * *

After a four hour jet ride, everyone but Clint and Natasha were showing signs of going stir crazy. The two assassins, however, never so much as twitched a muscle, sitting back on their benches and inspecting their weapons. Thor was restlessly shifting Mjolnir in his hands, Steve was leaning against the side of the jet and watching out the window, while Bruce wrung his hands almost constantly.

"So are we going to go in quietly, get Stark and go, or do we want everyone within a five mile radius to know we're there and pissed?" Natasha broke the silence that had fallen over the group and they all looked up to her quickly.

"They're going to see us fly up anyway, unless we wanted to take the time to hike to the compound, which I don't think is a great idea." Steve pointed out, giving a slight nod to himself.

"The Other Guy's been known to make a hell of an entrance." Bruce pointed out darkly, but Steve was quick to shake his head to that idea.

"Bruce, we're going to need your help with Tony and the arc reactor." he reminded, and the doctor stiffened and nodded acceptance. The Captain next glanced over to Thor, raising a questioning eyebrow to the demi-god and almost immediately receiving a smirk in return.

"I believe they would understand our intent if I sent lightning down into the heart of their compound." Thor said lightly and Clint's eyes instantly flashed and he gave a dark chuckle.

"Hell yeah, light the bastards up." the archer agreed maliciously, looking to Natasha as she spoke again.

"Just make sure to stay away from the building they've got Stark in. You wouldn't want to give him a shock by mistake." she warned, and Thor gave a quick nod of agreement, just as the pilot spoke up from the cockpit.

"Captain, we're two miles out." the man informed them, and Steve stepped forward, looking out to where he could see the small compound rising up out of the desert.

"Slow down and fly low. Hover over the roof of the building to the far left, and get those reflector shields up." Steve instructed, looking back and nodding to Thor, who stood and walked to the back of the jet. "After Thor does his thing, I'll jump down first, make sure the roof is clear. Thor, you bring up the rear."

Everyone gave quick nods of agreement and Clint easily reached for the button to lower the ramp. As it opened, Thor stepped out onto it, swinging his hammer in swift circles at his side. Almost instantly, storm clouds built seemingly inexplicably in the sky, dark and rolling.

As soon as the large main building of the compound came into view out the back of the jet, the demi-god let out a yell and pointed his hammer forward. On command, a streak of bright, jagged lightening dipped out of the sky and straight into the heart of the building. The impact and subsequent boom of thunder shook even the Quinjet.

Fixing his shield on his arm, Steve leapt out of the jet and onto the rooftop below, scanning his immediate area for any threats. Seeing none, he waved for the rest of the team to follow before moving carefully closer to the roof's edge, peering down to get a look at the chaos that had erupted below them.

Men were running around, frantically shouting and trying to get the fires that had sprung up due to the lightening under control. If anyone had noticed the group of people dropping out of a plane and onto a rooftop, they certainly weren't paying attention to it.

Once the entire team was crouched on the roof, staying hidden from their enemies at the moment, Steve spoke.

"Agent Romanoff, Dr. Banner, we are going to go get Tony. Hawkeye, I want you on this roof, covering that door and making sure that no one but us gets in that building. Thor, you'll be his ground support; hit the place with lightening again if you need to." Steve ordered, his tone short and holding no room for argument.

Without waiting for anything else, Clint tapped a few buttons on his quiver before pulling and notching an arrow before he stood, aimed, and loosed it easily. They all heard a dull thud of impact, before an explosion and Clint looked to them over his shoulder and smirked.

"Door's clear, Cap." he said lightly, pulling another arrow calmly as the gunfire started.

Steve couldn't help a short chuckle at the archer's attitude before he stood, holding his shield up protectively and moving along the roof to a place where they could safely drop to the ground. Seeing as it was only a one-story building, he wasn't worried. He jumped first, having to crouch behind his shield as soon as he landed to stave off the rapidly-barking gunfire. It was stopped abruptly by what sounded like one of Hawkeye's arrows and Steve turned and stood just in time to catch Bruce as he dropped to the ground.

The doctor was clearly very strained, and Steve gave his shoulder a quick, reassuring squeeze as he steadied him before making to the door that had been indicated to him as soon as Natasha had joined them.

Most of the men were now very occupied in dealing with Thor, and the ones that weren't were quickly treated to retaliatory shots from the Black Widow. When they reached the door, Steve broke it open with one quick kick, seeing the two guards stationed just inside the building in the next moment. Before they could fully comprehend what was going on or attack, Steve flung out his shield and knocked them back, Natasha firing off two shots to make sure they both stayed down.

"Let's find the basement." Steve said quickly, collecting his shield and starting down the hallway into the building.

"Here."

Not a full minute later, Natasha opened a door to find stairs going down and Steve quickly took the lead again, walking down quickly but carefully. The stairs came out into a short hallway with only one door and three more guards.

These three seemed more prepared and fired instantly, but Steve just put his shield up, pulling Bruce behind him and giving a quick nod to Natasha. The woman carefully waited a few moments for a slight lull in firing before she spun around and fired three quick shots which felled all of them.

"Something tells me we're in the right place." Bruce said shortly as they slowly went forward, Steve trying the single door in the basement. Finding it locked, he snorted and landed a sharp kick onto this door as well, making it screech and swing forward awkwardly, the top two hinges having broken off.

The three Avengers stepped into the room slowly, and Steve felt himself stiffen in anger and worry when he almost immediately recognized the room from the video. The next thing he noticed was Tony's limply hanging form.

The younger man was still in the same spot, but it seemed that the chains had been shortened to the point where he was pulled up by his arms and hanging limply, his feet able to touch the ground, but currently not supporting any of his weight. There was a dark cloth hood pulled over his head and he was paler than he had been before, but still sweaty and shaking. The arc reactor in his chest had visibly and considerably dimmed and was flickering constantly now, but it was a relief just to see any light from it at all.

"Tony." Steve said as he started forward, relief coloring his tone, and both Natasha and Bruce only a half-step behind him.

The bound man's head jerked slightly and his shakes impossibly worsened, but he didn't make a sound. As he neared the billionaire, Steve noted in concern the dark bruises that were blotched and scattered across the man's chest and back. As soon as he was close enough, Steve rested his shield at his feet before reaching up to gently pull the hood away from Tony's head, discarding it on the ground with barely half a thought.

Once it was gone, Stark's dark eyes blinked wearily up at them, both disbelief and relief flashing in them as the man recognized the three faces around him. Somehow, he fell even further into his chains, his shoulders relaxing as Steve reached forward again, this time to work the gag loose out of Tony's mouth.

"I have never been so glad to see star-spangled spandex in my life." he rasped, voice hoarse and painful sounding. "Or the rest of my favorite band of misfits."

"Tony, we've got you, you're safe." Steve said gently, looking over the chains next with narrowed eyes. "They can't hurt you anymore."

Tony said nothing to that, face contorting into a pained grimace as he tried and failed to regain his feet, grunting quietly and looking to Bruce gratefully when the doctor stepped forward and let most of the billionaire's weight to rest on him, relieving the pressure from his shoulders and arms.

"Can… can you get me out of this, Cap?" he questioned quietly, and Steve barely kept himself from flinching as he saw the unmasked pain and fear that the other man was exhibiting.

One thing he hadn't taken long to realize about Tony Stark, was that he _never_ let other people see him vulnerable if he could help it. Not emotionally, and not physically. He'd sooner mask everything with a cocky bravado, a scathing joke and copious amounts of alcohol than let other people know about his problems. And despite however annoying he found that, and the billionaire's typically bitingly sarcastic personality to be, Steve suddenly found himself wanting that back. Because that at least was normal; it meant his friend was okay. He wasn't quite sure how to deal with this terrified, hurt, and partially broken man in front of him.

Instead of speaking, and possibly giving away just how furious and horrified he was, Steve gave one short nod and clenched his jaw tightly, reaching for the chains.

Before he could start, Natasha's hand on his arm stopped him, and he glanced to her, only to see she was looking with what could almost be called concern at Tony.

"What's your condition, Stark?" she asked, her tone far gentler than any of them had ever heard it outside of calming Clint down after a nightmare that had left the archer completely unaware of himself and his surroundings for a solid hour.

Tony blinked at her in slight amazement, recognizing her tone even in his condition. He didn't comment on it though, instead swallowing thickly and answering her question.

"Uhm,… couple broke ribs, my shoulders feel dislocated… everything hurts pretty much. My chest… I don't think the arc reactor's doing too hot. Well, actually it _is_ hot, and that's part of the problem…" he trailed off there with a grimace of pain, and Bruce spoke up quietly, his voice a carefully measured calm.

"I brought a spare from the lab. Once Steve gets you down, I'll change it out for you." he reassured and Tony blinked at him for a moment.

"Have I ever told you that I love you in a completely non-creepy, platonic way?" he asked hoarsely, causing strained snorts of amusement from all of them.

At that moment however, Hawkeye's voice came over the comms in Steve and Natasha's ears, causing them to pause.

'_You guys find him or what?'_ the archer demanded, his voice sounding slightly strained as well, but for completely different reasons. _'These arrows don't exactly replenish themselves, and it's getting a little heavy for me and Thor out here.'_

"Yeah, Hawkeye, we've got him." Natasha was the first to respond. "We'll be up and ready to go as soon as we can."

'_Copy that.'_ Hawkeye responded shortly.

Steve opened his mouth and made to speak, only to pause when he noticed that Tony's eyes had widened into what looked to be fear as he stared at something behind them.

"Guys…" he started quietly, and they all instantly spun around, Steve kicking his shield up into his hands and bodily covering Tony's prone form, while Natasha leveled her pistol at the seven men that had crowded the doorway, who were all brandishing guns as well.

"Well, it seems I underestimated the determination of the Avengers to get to one of their own." the lead man, who looked to be in his late fifties, with sliver streaked blonde hair.

Steve visibly stiffened when he recognized the man's voice as the one from the video, making this the man the one that had at least been present during Tony's torture, if not completely in charge of it.

"So it would seem."

Surprisingly it was Bruce that spoke, the doctor's voice barely masking his rage, which Steve took to mean he had made the connection as well. The group huddled in the doorway held their guns up threateningly, whispering heatedly to one another. Bruce proceeded to completely ignore them, handing the satchel containing the spare arc reactor to Steve, his eyes already sparking with anger and completely jade, no trace at all of their normal brown color.

As soon as Steve had taken the bag, the older man at the front of the group seemed to realize his mistake, horror lighting in his eyes as he quickly backed away. Bruce turned towards the door, the doctor's form giving away to the Hulk's smoothly as he did.

The giant green rage monster couldn't even fully stand in the confines of the small basement room, and the ear-splitting roar he let out physically shook it, swiping one fist through the door way to send the scrabbling terrorists crashing with bone-shattering force into the wall beyond. A few managed to get off a feeble gunshot or two, aimed at the Hulk, but he just snarled furiously and continued to make completely sure that none of them would remain threats.

When he was done, the massive green monster then peered back into the small room he'd come from, narrowed eyes falling onto Tony's limp form that was still more or less concealed behind Steve. Seemingly convinced that the billionaire wasn't in any more immediate danger, he grunted and moved to force his way out of the building.

"Hulk smash more terrorists." he growled, and Steve wasn't about to argue with him.

"Have fun!" Tony called after him weakly, and the Hulk gave another roar as if in reply.

Steve gave an exasperated shake of his head, before he reached up to take hold of the chains above the billionaire's wrists. "You ready?"

Tony's eyes snapped to him, widened slightly, before he gave a short nod and let out a long breath with a grimace. Steve returned the gesture reassuringly before he physically pulled the chains off the bolts secured to the ceiling, snapping the first link of chain in half. Slowly and carefully, he lowered Tony into a sitting position of the floor, wincing and apologizing quietly when the younger man gave a pained hiss when his arms lowered to his sides and his shoulders moved.

Natasha and Steve each took a wrist, deftly unwinding the chains and wincing again when they saw the blistered and burned skin beneath.

"Electrical burns." Natasha informed them briskly, carefully inspecting the wrist she held before looking up to Tony. "They don't look too bad, I think you'll live, Stark."

"Oh goody." Tony deadpanned. "Thank you for that kind and wonderful observation, Agent Romanoff. Tell me, any more interesting tidbits you'd like to share?"

"I'm going to go ahead and put your shoulders back in." she told him, holding his gaze as it darkened and flickered with hesitation. "It's going to hurt, but it needs to be done before you accidentally cause any more damage."

"You don't have to talk me through it like I'm five." Tony spat, but even Steve could see he was currently doing a very poor job of masking his fear. Even so, Natasha didn't speak again, taking his left arm and giving it a quick, careful jerk to pop the joint back into place.

Tony had to bite his lip to keep from crying out and he started shaking violently, eyes closing tightly. Slowly, Steve moved so he was crouching more or less behind the other man, resting one hand lightly on the back of his neck, both to keep him from falling backwards, and to offer at least some form of reassurance, seeing as they all knew that Natasha still had to repeat the action one more time.

"Just calm down and breathe, Tony. As soon as she's done with this, and we fix your arc reactor, we're getting you out of here and taking you home." the Captain said firmly, meeting Stark's gaze when the man turned his head to look over his shoulder, his expression almost questioning.

Steve just gave the base of his neck a slight, reassuring squeeze before nodding to Natasha who deftly grabbed the man's other arm and proceeded to swiftly put that joint back into its socket as well. Tony gave a quiet, muffled whimper that time, his breaths coming in more short, ragged gasps than anything.

"How do we work this thing, Stark, because I doubt we're getting Banner back in here." Natasha questioned, pulling the satchel containing the extra arc reactor closer to her and taking out the brightly glowing object.

"Right, all you have to do is pop the old one out and then have probably about a minute to get the new one in before shrapnel works its way into my heart and kills me." Tony forced out through clenched teeth, giving his head a quick shake. "Usually, that'd be longer, but this one's been faltering for a day or two. And, not to be ungrateful or anything, it hurts like a bitch so if we could speed this up a bit, that'd be awesome."

"So there's just going to be a gaping hole in your chest?" Steve questioned doubtfully, and Tony sighed, wincing as the action put pressure on his broken ribs.

"All you take out it the reactor. Not the entire thing, Capsicle." he said, tone weak and carrying none of his usual cocky, sarcastic edge.

Thankfully, Steve didn't have to ask what was probably another stupid question, seeing as Natasha leaned forward, eyes narrowed slightly.

"I think I get it, Cap. Just keep him still." she instructed and Steve carefully wrapped his hand that wasn't already supporting the back of the billionaire's neck around an unbruised spot of his left upper arm.

"Twist left, then pull it out." Tony instructed, sucking in a sharp breath and Natasha nodded, reaching forward to take a hold of the edges of the reactor in his chest and making the motions he'd told her to.

The very dimly glowing and flickering device came out of the metal casing in his chest and Tony gasped, unable to help himself. In the same instant, every muscle in his body visibly stiffened and his back arched slightly against Steve's hold, the Captain's grip tightening as his eyes narrowed.

He'd always known _why_ Tony had the glowing device in his chest. Not really understanding its function, but accepting its presence; after all, during the 40's a wound like Tony's would have been a death sentence. He'd just never considered that it could fail, or cause Tony pain in the process of keeping him alive. Or how quickly the man would die without it.

As he watched, Natasha carefully but deftly slipped the new reactor into place, having to give it a considerable push before she twisted it back to the right to lock it in. It glowed brighter for a moment, Tony groaning before he all but collapsed into Steve's hold, taking in quick gulps of air.

"Easy, easy. Breathe." Steve told him as Natasha let out her own barely audible sigh of relief, any emotion in her eyes carefully masked as she sat back, putting the old reactor into the satchel and tying it to her belt..

"Sorry, Cap." Tony mumbled, sounding completely and utterly exhausted, which Steve could understand. He'd honestly been surprised that the billionaire had remained coherent as long as he had. The fact that the man had lapsed into use of the rest of the team's affectionate nickname for him as opposed to his usual 'Captain' or 'Rogers' was a sign that his awareness was slipping.

Before Steve could respond, both he and Natasha looked up as Thor and Clint stepped through the partially destroyed doorway. It was obvious that both had done considerable fighting, blood smeared across the archer' left upper arm and only a small handful of arrows left in his quiver.

"What's wrong?" the Captain asked quickly, but both just shook their heads and Thor responded.

"The few enemies remaining have been detained in the other smaller building by the Hulk." the demi-god informed them, casting a clearly concerned look down to Tony, who was still leaning against Steve.

"Yep, and the jet's circling back to pick us up. Should be on the roof in a minute or two." Clint added, raising a questioning eyebrow when Tony blinked up at him.

"What'd you do to your arm, Cupid?" the billionaire questioned with a small frown.

"I got it shot." the archer responded without skipping a beat, making Steve frown as well. "What about you, Iron Ass? Looks like something tried to eat you and gave up half way through."

"Hmm, yeah, well, I hate terrorists." Tony muttered, though they could all see that a spark of amusement showed in his eyes, pushing back the fear and pain.

"I hear you." Clint returned, before his eyes darkened and his expression smoothed into focus when they heard the Hulk give a muffled roar from above them. "That'll probably be the jet. I'll go see if I can talk the Big Guy into letting Bruce back to the party."

"Would anybody be offended if I, you know, conk out for the return trip?" Tony asked, a pained shake gracing his voice that Steve decided that he absolutely _hated_ to hear.

"Do you have a concussion?" Natasha asked matter of factly and Tony gave her an incredulous look.

"Wouldn't surprise me, sunshine." he said, making Natasha narrow her eyes at him slightly before moving to stand.

Steve reached back to grab his shield offering it to Thor to hold, the demi-god taking it with a nod of understanding. In the next moment, the Captain had gotten his arms around Tony's shoulders and knees and had gently lifted him up to his chest, noting the bruises that marred the billionaire's back and being exceedingly careful not to put pressure on them if he could avoid it. He then stood slowly and carefully, keeping one concerned eye on Stark.

The younger man gave a yelp of surprise and pain at the moment, the sound muffled due to the fact that he tried to suppress the sound.

"Easy, Tony, you're not in any condition to be walking anywhere." Steve soothed, motioning for Natasha to lead the way out of the building, the red-headed assassin doing so easily, the Captain following her with Tony in his arms, and Thor bringing up the rear.

The demi-god's face was hard set, and angrier than Steve had ever seen it. That anger was probably the reason behind why the man wasn't talking as much as he usually would be.

"If anyone ever speaks of this again, I will murder them." Tony muttered, slurring his words slightly as he hovered at the edges of unconsciousness.

"Of course not." Steve actually gave a strained grin at that, jarring the other man as little as he could as they started up the stairs. "You were sitting here twiddling your thumbs and waiting for us when we got here."

"Exactly." Tony's response was barely audible at that point, and Steve's small grin faltered and he sighed, meeting the concerned glance Natasha tossed back over her shoulder.

They came out of the building and the Quinjet was already waiting, ramp lowered, on the roof of the building they'd just been in. Thankfully, they found stairs up and within minutes, Steve was lowering Tony's barely conscious form onto one of the benches and moving aside just as Bruce and Clint walked onto the Quinjet as well.

The archer himself moved to tell the pilot they were good to go, while Bruce moved instantly to Tony's side, looking to Natasha and Steve.

"You were able to get the reactor figured out?" he asked, sounding both weary and concerned, eyes narrowed slightly. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking correctly…"

"Bruce, it's alright." Steve gave him a reassuring nod, and the doctor's eyes flicked to him as if judging his sincerity before he let out a sigh and relaxed as the Captain continued. "Probably the best thing you could have done, what with seven of them. Natasha managed to change out the arc reactor."

"Would you mind taking a look at it though?" the woman asked as the plane began take-off.

Bruce did so, crouching easily beside the bench Tony was laid out on, and Steve noted with a frown that the ramp hadn't yet closed up on the back of the jet. His confusion deepened when he saw Hawkeye step up closer to the edge of the ramp, grabbing one of the few remaining arrows out of his quiver and drawing it back into his bow, completely ignoring the blood that dripped down from what Steve could now see was in fact a bullet hole in his arm.

By then the rest of the Avengers, minus Tony who had finally fallen into unconsciousness, had noticed Barton's actions and had turned to watch. As soon as the closet window of the third building, the one they had originally landed on, came into view, Clint carefully fixed his aim, adjusting for the wind around the jet and loosed the arrow.

The arrow flew with unerring accuracy through the window, exploding on impact and engulfing the entire building in flames within a few moments, sending a tall column of black smoke into the otherwise flawless sky.

"Maybe the rest of the assholes will take the hint." Clint said shortly, his eyes dark and flashing with some unreadable emotion as he pressed the button to close up the ramp and moving towards the bench across from the one Tony was on, carefully maneuvering his quiver off his back while trying not to jostle his arm.

Steve frowned slightly as he watched the burning compound fade into the distance behind and below them. He had no doubt that the building that Barton had sent that arrow into was the one that the few survivors of the original attack had been herded into, and he wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.

"Save your lecture, Cap." Clint picked up on the Captain's expression within moments of taking a seat on the bench beside Thor and he spoke stiffly. Maybe it was the fact that he was an assassin, but letting any of those people live, directly involved with Tony's torture or not, had not been in his realm of priorities. They had all been threats, he had eliminated them, that's all there was to it.

Steve cast one long glance to Tony's pale, bruised and unconscious form before he felt his resolve stiffened and his jaw clenched as he turned away from the window of the jet, leaning against the wall instead and meeting Clint's stubborn gaze.

"There wasn't going to be one." he said in a low voice, crossing his arms over his chest and bowing his head slightly, taking the shield that Thor passed him with a nod of thanks.

* * *

**There you have it. Hope it lived up to your expectations. The new chapter should be up by late Thursday, early Friday. I always appreciate reviews.  
~Dogstar  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**To start off, I am really, terribly sorry that this update is so late. This chapter took longer than I expected it would to write, but maybe the fact that it's super long will make up for the extended wait a bit. And no, I did not plan for it to be super long. It just kind of happened.**

**Anyway, I'm currently thinking one more chapter to wrap up this story, and it'll probably be another long one, though not quite this long I don't think.**

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/alerted this story, you're all unbelievably awesome. **

**As always, I own nothing.**

* * *

As Tony slowly began to regain consciousness, the first thing he became aware of was the sensation of someone gently running their fingers through his hair, the warmth and intimate affection that went with the gesture being something he hadn't experienced in a long time. Believing the feeling to be the remnants of a concussion/pain-induced dream, he clung to unconsciousness in a desperate attempt to continue it. Because this one gesture was millions of times better than the agony and fear he remembered dealing with for the last few days at the hands of his captors, and he knew that that was what he would be going back to as soon as he woke.

Even as he had the thought, though, he realized that something was wrong with that assumption.

As he became more aware of himself, despite all his attempts otherwise, he realized that his arms were laying at his sides, not chained above him. And at the same time, he himself was laying down in a relaxed position on something not exactly soft, but definitely a bed or cot of some kind. The arc reactor in his chest was giving off a low, steady hum; not the shuddering, painful bursts he remembered. There was a heart monitor beeping slowly and rhythmically somewhere to his right, and the abhorred smell of a hospital met his nose.

With those realizations came a slow trickle of dim and scattered memories. And the particular one in the forefront of his mind showed him the familiar faces of Steve, Bruce and Natasha standing around him, the Captain's low, reassuring voice telling him that he was safe; that they were there to take him home. Hell, if he tried hard enough he could even dredge up the memory of the Hulk thoroughly smashing the man than had been vastly responsible for his torture.

As all that fell into place in his mind, he became aware of the fingers slowly pulling through his hair again. He stiffened slightly at the touch, knowing now that it wasn't just in his head, before he relaxed as he realized there was only _one_ person that would be doing that for him.

"Pepper?" he asked hopefully, his voice raspy as his eyes blinked quickly open before narrowing at the far too bright lights above him.

In response, there was a short gasp from his right and a hand clenched down on his while the fingers in his hair paused. Tony groaned quietly and managed to turn his head and open his eyes, feeling himself relax when he caught sight of Pepper's face, which looked relieved and concerned at the same time.

"Oh, Tony, you're awake." she said quietly, masking her worry with a small grin. "You're safe, I promise. We're at SHIELD. How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit with another one of those space whales." Tony rasped with a hidden grimace, masking his pain around her for completely different reasons than he would for anyone else. Pepper he didn't want to worry. He felt her hand tighten on his and he couldn't help a small, tight smile, even as her other hand untangled from his hair and reached for a cup on the small nightstand beside her.

"Here." she said, directing the straw into his mouth. "Don't drink too much, you'll overwhelm your system."

Tony barely paid her words any attention, gulping down mouthfuls of water as quickly as he could manage, and giving a dissatisfied grumble when she took the cup away much too soon for his liking.

"You'll be thanking me when you're not throwing it all up again later." she told him matter of factly as she sat the cup back on the nightstand, her other hand not once leaving his.

Tony gave a snort but let his head fall back onto his pillows, exhausted by that one small action and wincing at the dull, throbbing pain that spread through his entire body. Seeing as that was nothing compared to the agony he remembered, he barely paid it any attention.

"So what's the verdict?" he asked quietly, his voice not quite as painful sounding now that he'd had something to drink.

Seeming to instantly know what he meant, the woman gave his hand a light squeeze before she spoke, her tone reassuring.

"You have three broken ribs that managed not to puncture anything, two back-to-back mild concussions, severe muscle strain throughout your body from the spasms caused by the electricity, and both your shoulders were dislocated. Natasha may have put the joints back into place, but the tendons are still damaged a little." there Pepper paused to take a deep breath before continuing. "Both wrists have 2nd degree electrical burns, you have bruises covering 70% of your torso, and because you spent so long on a weak arc reactor, the shrapnel managed to get another millimeter closer to your heart." her voice actually shook there, and Tony grunted quietly but rolled slightly onto his side to better face her, his hand squeezing the one of hers that held it reassuringly.

"Pep, I'll be fine, I swear." he told her, the ghost of his typical cocky grin forming on his face. "It takes more than a couple terrorists to take me out, you know that."

"There were almost two hundred of them." she informed his quietly, not responding the way he wanted her to to his attempt at a joke.

"Right." Tony said slowly, trying to figure out a way to downplay that one. The pain medicine induced haze over his mind wasn't helping in the quick thinking department; so instead, he changed the subject, rolling back over carefully. "So where'd my favorite brand of misfits scamper off to?"

Unexpectedly, Pepper gave a small giggle and her eyes brightened as her gaze turned to look across the bed to the other side of the infirmary room. Frowning, Tony followed her gaze and had to choke back laughter when he saw the sight only a few feet away from the other side of his bed.

There were three typical stiff, metal chairs, Natasha, Steve and Bruce each sitting in one. Natasha was curled up with her knees up to her chest. Steve was reclining back in his, his feet propped up on the back of Bruce's, the doctor's head leaning against the Captain's legs. Thor was sprawled out on his back at the foot of all the chairs, snoring loudly. They were all sleeping soundly.

Tony didn't see Clint at first, but then he noticed the archer's scruffy head sticking out over the side of the top of the row of cabinets where he was laying back, seemingly asleep as well.

"I'll be damned." he said, chuckling raggedly due to the pain that stemmed from his ribs when he did. "Earth's Mightiest Heroes, huh?"

"You can see it when they're angry." Pepper said lightly, turning to look at Tony again. He looked at her questioningly so she continued. "After they got back from the helicarrier…" she trailed off and Tony narrowed his eyes slightly, looking to the group of superheroes he got to call teammates.

Seeing his gaze, Pepper spoke again, her voice quiet.

"Tony, we didn't even know you were missing until the day you were supposed to get back. That was yesterday." she told him gently, as if she knew the doubts that would have been running through his head. Which, admittedly, she probably did.

She knew he didn't let people close because he was afraid of being betrayed or abandoned again. He pushed buttons and insulted and argued for the sole purpose of driving people away on occasion. Hell, he'd done it to the rest of his teammates before, just to see if they would up and leave too. They never had, though. So maybe it shouldn't surprise him that they had dropped everything and rushed off to save him… But it _did_.

After all, he didn't have many, if any experiences to fall back on of people putting themselves in harm's way to help him. Who would do something so selfless for the arrogant, smart-assed bastard that was Tony Stark? Pepper had told him before that all he did was push people away.

And yet, here were five people just as damaged as he was that had flown into the heart of a terrorist cell for nothing more than his safety. One thing he did remember, aside from the joyful, satisfying sight of the bastard that'd tortured him getting smashed, was the sight of blood on Clint's arm, and the archer telling him that he'd been shot. And when those men had first shown up in the doorway, before Bruce had gone all green on their asses, Steve had stepped bodily in front of him, protecting him.

He honestly didn't understand what in the world had endeared his teammates to him enough to get those reactions.

"Tony…?" Pepper's hesitant, concerned voice brought him out of his thoughts and Tony gave his head a slight shake, ignoring the throb his head gave as if in protest of the movement. He then looked up to her wearily, giving a slight smile in return to the one she gave him. "Do you want me to find you something to eat?"

Tony frowned when nausea rolled through him at the mere thought of food. Sure, he was hungry, his captors barely having allowed him any food during his stay, but right now it didn't seem like such a good idea.

"I'll pass." he more or less groaned, squeezing his eyes shut tightly in an attempt to calm his stomach.

"Alright. Then you should try to get some more rest." Pepper told him gently, returning her fingers to his hair again.

Not about to argue with that suggestion, Tony closed his eyes again, but didn't admit, even to himself that he turned his head so it was leaning more into Pepper's hand as he slipped back into unconsciousness.

* * *

When he woke again, he was covered in cold sweat, and the aches and throbs that went throughout his body had worsened slightly. His breathing had sped up, and when his eyes snapped open he tried to spring into a sitting position, momentarily forgetting where he was and what had happened.

Before he could raise himself more than a few inches off his bed, however, there was a gentle but firm hand on his right upper arm, keeping him down.

"Relax Tony."

His head snapped to the side, eyes widened with the beginnings of fear forming in them when he recognized Steve's voice. Sure enough, the Captain had taken the chair formerly occupied by Pepper beside his bed. Looking around as he relaxed and slowly calmed, he saw that he and Steve were now alone in his infirmary room.

"You're safe." Steve continued in the same reassuring tone that in any other situation Tony would have found unbelievably aggravating. "Do you remember what happened?"

"You mean after you all showed up to save my ass? No, not really. But I think Pepper may have mentioned something about a concussion or two the last time I woke up, so I'm not too concerned about that." Tony said matter of factly, noting that his voice was still the same painful sounding rasp. Steve must have been thinking the same thing, because the super soldier reached for the cup on the nightstand Pepper had given him before.

Tony drank from it just as greedily this time around, and gave the same noise of disapproval as Steve too took it away before he could drink too much.

"So where'd everyone else go?" he asked trying to push himself up into a sitting position on his pillows and sucking in a sharp breath at the pain the action caused to lance through his arms, originating at his shoulders. His ribs weren't very happy with the development either.

Before he could simply collapse back, he was surprised when Steve leaned forward and caught him under the arms and gently pulled him up, leaning back into his chair as soon as Tony was settled.

"I don't think that's something you should be trying just yet." the Captain told him with a raised eyebrow, a small grin forming at Tony's huff of annoyance. "Thor and Natasha went to see if they could find something edible in the mess hall, Pepper went to talk to Fury and Bruce tagged along, and I'm not quite sure _where_ Clint went." Steve frowned slightly at that admission, which just made Tony snort.

"He'll fly back to us soon enough." the billionaire said with a strained smirk, which Steve picked up on.

"You okay?"

"Just peachy." Tony told him sarcastically, his eyes darkening when he saw the look Steve was giving him. He most definitely did _not_ want to talk about anything even remotely having to do with what had just happened. "Save it, Rogers, I'm fine."

The Captain sighed but didn't argue, which for some reason just caused Tony to give his head a slight shake and lower his eyes, snorting quietly.

"So I guess you were right before, huh?" he asked, giving a dark grin when Steve turned to look at him again, confusion brightening his gaze this time. "I'm really not much without the suit am I?"

He wasn't sure what made _those_ words of all things come out of his mouth. After the whole alien invasion thing, before they had left the Schwarma restaurant, Steve had apologized for what he said, and Tony had waved it off, chalking their argument up to influence from the 'Glow Stick of Destiny'. He hadn't really been all that kind with his insults either.

But now, after doing a repeat of the 'held by terrorists and tortured' bit, his self-confidence wasn't exactly at an all-time high. And this time, he hadn't even gotten himself out. No, he'd been _rescued_. If he was actually honest with himself, it made him feel weak as hell, and he hated it.

Steve's eyes widened in a way that would have been almost comical if it hadn't been for the situation.

"Tony, that's not true. I didn't-," he started, but Tony just cut him off before he could finish, an edge of anger gracing his tone as well.

"Seriously, Captain, let's think about this here. Between the super soldier, the demi-god from another realm, the huge, green rage monster, the two scary as hell assassins, and me, who exactly is going to be easier for _anyone_ to keep down and trapped? I didn't have my suit, they knew that. I'm not exactly a wimp, but my hand-to-hand skills are probably somewhere in the realm of 1/100 what Barton's and Romanoff's are. I didn't have a chance in hell of getting myself out of there." Tony wasn't exactly sure what had happened to the idea of not wanting to talk about it, or why exactly he was giving this rant to Steve of all people. If it was ever brought up again, however, he was blaming everything on whatever pain meds the SHIELD doctors had him on. "It wasn't like last time. I didn't have the opportunity to help myself, and I don't know… I can't…" the billionaire trailed off, giving his head another slight shake.

"Tony," his head jerked up slightly when Steve spoke sharply, the Captain gently grasping his shoulder. Reluctantly, he turned his eyes to the older man and met his gaze, not bothering to mask the self-hatred and the fear he was feeling.

Steve sighed when he saw it, and tightened his grip slightly, though not to the point where it would hurt the other man's already injured shoulder.

"Tony, not one of us thinks you're a liability in any situation." he said, cutting straight to the crux of the matter. "Everyone has their strengths, everyone has their weaknesses. None of us are any different."

Tony scoffed at that, but before he could open his mouth to contradict the statement, Steve spoke again, his voice strengthening to a tone that suggested what he was saying was non-negotiable.

"I'm serious Tony. I'm sure every single one of us can name a time someone got the jump on us. No, you couldn't fight off a couple hundred terrorists by yourself, but you know what you did do? You lasted through almost four days of torture without telling them a damn thing. Not everybody could do something like that."

Tony let out a long shuddering breath at that, his eyes closing tightly as the memories of the seemingly endless shocks started to overwhelm him.

"Hey." Steve's voice sounded again and his eyes snapped open and looked to the Captain's blue ones almost questioningly. "It doesn't matter that you couldn't do it yourself, because you didn't need to. None of us would have ever left you there any longer than we could have avoided. We didn't know you were missing until the day you were supposed to come back, and we were in the process of taking down that compound a little over six hours later."

Tony couldn't help a surprised blink at that, his eyes widening slightly. Six hours. From the time his team had known he was in trouble, until they were standing beside him in that basement. He couldn't help being impressed and humbled at the same time, and that certainly wasn't a combination he was familiar with.

"Thanks." Tony said after a few minutes of silence and Steve gave a small smile, giving the younger man's shoulder one more slight squeeze before he leaned back into his chair.

"That's what a team's for." he said simply, before he raised an eyebrow consideringly at Tony. "You know, you're always welcome down in the gym with the rest of us. You could do a little sparring without your suit; it certainly wouldn't hurt, especially if it's going to eat at you like this."

"Right, and who would you like me to spar with?" Tony asked almost mockingly, though some of the darkness had left his eyes, along with the fear, and his tone was almost teasing. "You go through punching bags like water. Thor… just no. That wouldn't turn out well for anyone. And Barton or Romanoff would lay me out in a minute flat without even trying."

"Be fair, Stark, I'd go easy on you."

Both Steve and Tony looked around in shock for the source of the archer's voice, before he lowered himself out of the air vent that was positioned only about a foot from the row of cabinets Tony remembered seeing him sleeping on earlier. Clint perched precariously on the edge of the cabinets, arms still braced partially inside the air vent he'd come out of. He blinked at his two teammates innocently before giving a cocky smirk at their shocked stares.

"What?"

"What the holy hell, Barton?" Tony demanded, glancing between the archer and the _air vent_ in confusion and disbelief, before something clicked and his eyes grew even wider. "No. You cannot be serious. Do _not_ tell me that you've been getting around the tower through the air ducts."

"Fine. I won't tell you." Clint gave a slight shrug, sliding the vent he'd exited closed and leaping gracefully to the ground. "But your ducts are SHIELD sized. And I've been running around them for years."

"But… why?" Tony asked, clearly not understanding the archer's motivation.

Steve was just staring at Clint with a half amused and a half disapproving expression on his face as the assassin dragged one of the vacated chairs closer to Tony's bedside across from the Captain and plopping down into it.

"Because who would ever expect it?" Clint asked rhetorically before he tilted his head slightly to the side. "But seriously, while I _could_ floor you in less than a minute, I wouldn't do it while I was trying to help you. If you want to do some training once you're back on your feet, I'm game."

Tony seemed to consider him for a few moments before his eyes brightened slightly.

"Yeah?" he asked curiously, and Clint just nodded. "I'll hold you to that, Barton."

"Looking forward to it." the archer smirked, receiving a small one in return.

"Tony if you're hungry, I can go find you something to eat." Steve offered after a few moments of silence, and Tony glanced to him before he gave a quick nod, his nausea from before gone and replaced by a very insistent hunger.

"That'd be awesome." he said empathetically and Steve gave him a slight grin as he stood, looking to Clint questioningly.

The archer gave a wordless nod in return, settling back into his chair with a sigh and propping his feet up on the end of Tony's bed.

"What'd Pepper do, order a 24 hour watch to make sure I don't do anything stupid?" Tony asked dryly and Clint snorted.

"Pretty much." he chuckled when Tony made a face before shifting uncomfortably, which just made the archer's eyes narrow into concern again. "You alright?"

"If someone ever tries to tell you that electricity is good for any bodily or muscle functions, tell them that they are full of shit." Tony muttered, raising an eyebrow when Clint actually responded with a dark chuckle.

"I hear you." the archer said dispassionately, and Tony's other eyebrow joined its raised counterpart.

"You do?" he asked cautiously, and Clint just leveled him with an impassive look.

"Stark, I've been an assassin for eight years, working for SHIELD for seven. Things don't always go smoothly." he pointed out matter of factly. "The muscle spasms suck, and they last for a day or two, but you'll be fine."

"Well… that's at least partially positive, I guess." the billionaire said dryly, and Clint smirked again. "How's your arm, Legolas?"

"Fine." Barton gave a dismissive shrug, not even glancing down at the bandages wound around his left upper arm. "Only thing the bullet hit was muscle. It'll heal up in a couple days."

"You are remarkably unconcerned about a bullet wound." Tony informed him easily. "Or do you just really like downplaying your injuries that much?"

"Not the first time I've been shot either, Stark." Clint said as a sigh. "In the arm or otherwise."

"Wow, are you morbid." the other man said shortly, raising an eyebrow. "Like, seriously. Is that an assassin thing, or have you just always not given a shit?"

"I know I liked you better unconscious." Clint retorted, lapsing easily into what had amounted to his and Tony's typical banter, now that he knew the billionaire was in a state of mind where he could both dish out and take the insults without taking them seriously. He hadn't been sure at first, but now he was almost positive that Stark was going to be fine. If nothing else, the quick-witted back and forth would take his mind off the residual pain the older man still had to be in.

"Speaking of you and what you have or have not always done," Tony started, almost completely ignoring the man's response. "I'm still ungodly amounts of curious about the carnie thing. You must tell me more."

"No." Clint responded almost instantaneously, raising an eyebrow when Tony started pouting.

"Please?"

"No."

"I'll tell Pepper you were being mean."

"Are you really bringing your girlfriend into this?"

"I'll tell Thor who keeps taking the last pop tart."

At that Clint paused, eyes narrowing as he considered Tony's now smirking and triumphant form. Did he honestly really care whether or not Stark outed him for occasionally stealing a pop tart from the box before his morning workout? No. Did he want Stark to stop pestering him? Yes. Did he trust Stark with another little tidbit of his past? Surprisingly enough, yes.

After all, it wasn't like he was going to go into detail as to _why_ he and his brother ran away to the circus, or really the subject of Barney at all. The basics, he could give to Stark. It was the realization that at the rate he was going, that he might end up eventually entrusting his story not only to Tony, but the entire team, that really was making him think.

Giving himself a quick shake, Clint let his 'defeat' show in his eyes before he scowled slightly.

"If this ever comes back to bite me in the ass, I will murder you." he said matter of factly, wondering what it said about Stark's mental stability at the moment that he took that in stride easily and gave a quick nod of acceptance. "My brother and I, we did the whole cliché 'run away to the circus' thing when I was ten. That's where I first picked up a bow and started honing the natural talent I had for marksmanship. It's also where I got the name Hawkeye in the first place. There's not much else to it." he finished simply with another shrug, and unsurprisingly, Tony already had another question ready.

"So how exactly do you go from working at a circus to contract killer?" Tony asked, but there wasn't a trace of the judgment Clint had come to expect in his tone, just honest curiosity.

Even so, Clint frowned before his face smoothed into an emotionless mask, even as his eyes darkened. That, he most definitely wasn't ready to share with Tony.

To the billionaire's credit, he noticed the change and quickly backtracked to another, safer, subject of conversation.

* * *

A week passed much too slowly for Tony's liking. To put it quite frankly, he was going stir crazy in his SHIELD infirmary room, even with his five, sometimes six, near constant companions. He had honestly been amused at his teammates' reactions the first time the doctor had told them that not all of them could stay in the room at once. Pepper was obviously a given to stay, seeing as she wasn't even technically supposed to be on the helicarrier. Steve and Thor had given the man level, impassive looks that had still yet to be protested. Bruce had pretended not to even hear the doctor, and no one had tried to prod him into leaving since. Clint and Natasha had protested loudly and vehemently, seeming furious as the doctor held the door open pointedly for their exit.

They had returned under a half hour later through the air vent, pretending nothing had happened. When the SHIELD doctor had come back into Tony's room later that night to check on him again, he apparently gave up trying to both question how the two assassins had gotten back in, and figure out how to get them to stay out, seeing as the matter was never brought up again.

Throughout the week, Tony also managed to piece together what had happened during his rescue. He thought Thor's little lightening entrance was beautifully ironic. He instantly petitioned to make that their typical entrance into any battle, which just caused him to be sent four different exasperated looks, while both Clint and Thor looked to be almost interested.

Hawkeye's little parting shot of an explosive arrow into the building that the remaining terrorists had been put into had thrown him for a loop for a moment, but when he had glanced in the archer's direction, there hadn't been a hint of remorse on his face.

When he had learned about the video SHEILD had been sent, for obvious reasons, he had not been happy. He had then taken it upon himself to remotely remove it from SHIELD's databases within an hour after he'd all but dragged the information out of Steve, who had been not at all cooperative.

As Clint had told him to expect, the occasional muscle spasms and cramps lasted a few days, followed by a near constant aching that was just starting to wear off. He still wasn't doing much moving around due to his ribs and shoulders, much to most everyone's relief. Truthfully, while Tony was unbelievably bored, having the team around to talk to, especially when he and Bruce would talk science , was probably doing wonders for keeping him in his bed instead of trying to escape to whatever kind of lab this tin can had.

On the other hand, Natasha was keeping a closer eye on Clint than she was Tony.

Stark would be the first one to tell them something was wrong, and then incessantly complain about it until either something was done to fix it, or Bruce sat down with him and distracted him with some project they could work on through Tony's phone.

Clint, however, wouldn't tell her if he'd been having trouble with the other agents until she found out herself. So, she watched him carefully. He spent a vast majority of him time either in Tony's room, or in the range, which didn't surprise her at all.

The third day after Tony had been rescued, she had been walking back from the mess hall with Steve when she'd unexpectedly stopped the super soldier, watching the hallway up ahead with narrowed eyes. Clint had been facing Agent Tena with his arms crossed over his chest, his expression one of defiance. She'd been ready to intervene, but her partner's words stopped her before she could.

'_Look, Tena, I'm sorry about what happened, I really am. But I couldn't help it and I'm done taking the shit you and everyone else keep throwing at me. Consider this your fair warning: Come at me again, and I will put you into the infirmary. We both know damn well I can.' Clint said, not so much as twitching a muscle when Tena loomed over him threateningly._

'_Well, someone has grown a backbone. Finally come to accept and embrace the fact that you're just a murderer then?' the other agent asked as more a growl then anything, but he still garnered no visible emotional reaction from the archer._

'_You're grieving, Tena, but you're doing it in all the wrong ways.' Clint shook his head, taking a step back. 'I've _accepted and embraced_ the fact that what happened was Loki, not me. The rest of you need to.'_

_With that, the archer turned his back on the other agent and walked away._

Steve had turned to Natasha in confusion, but the red-headed assassin had just waved him off and led the Captain back to Stark's room in a more round-about way that didn't take them past the now seething agent. She let out a silent and invisible sigh of relief as she walked. After seeing that, she knew that her Hawk was healing, and slowly beginning to get over the guilt for what he had done under Loki's mind control. And that was certainly a cause for relief, seeing as she wouldn't have to worry whether or not he'd be able to safely walk across the helicarrier.

Presently, everyone but Clint was seated and relaxed in Tony's infirmary room, listening with amused expressions as the billionaire tried to negotiate his release to the tower with his doctor.

"Come on." Tony protested to the older man's unyielding expression." You've done all the tests on my heart, it's as normal as it's going to get with the shrapnel in my chest. My vitals are fine, there's nothing wrong with me that can't heal just as well in my own tower as it can here."

"Except for the small problem that I'm not convinced you will be resting if I let you leave, ." the doctor said matter of factly, making Tony groan, just as Pepper spoke up, a small smile on her face as she patted the billionaire's arm soothingly.

"Oh yes, he will." she said, not even a trace of doubt in her voice, which just made Tony smile innocently at her but then cast a pleading look towards his teammates.

Steve opened his mouth to respond, but before he could speak, Agent Hill pushed into the room, her expression carefully masking any emotion.

"Romanoff, come with me." she said shortly, her eyes finding Natasha quickly. "It's Barton."

Within less than a half a second, Natasha had leapt to her feet and crossed the room, barely a half step behind the other woman, who had turned and started back down the hallway. The red-headed assassin didn't pay any attention to the sounds of Steve, Thor and Bruce quickly following as Hill led her down towards one of the hangers. She didn't need to question what Clint had been doing there, she knew he liked to sit in the catwalks and watch what was going on below.

Fury's livid, shouting voice met their ears before they saw anything, and when they did come across the scene that was the cause of the director's anger, it took all of Natasha's self-control not to outright sprint to Clint's side.

A grouping of ten agents had backed the archer against a tall stack of crates, while Fury had pushed his way to the center of the altercation and was in the process of chewing out said agents. At least six unconscious forms littered the hanger floor around them, which Natasha guessed would have been Clint's doing. The archer himself had an already purpling bruise across the right side of his jaw, and he was holding himself stiffly, which meant that his jaw hadn't been the only thing to take a hit, where he stood facing his attackers with narrowed and dangerous eyes. As she neared him though, physically pushing a few agents roughly out of her way, she saw the disappointment that had settled deeper in his gaze, that no one else would be able to pick up on.

"Will someone _please_ tell me why my agents are going at each other?" Fury demanded, the loudness of his voice rivaling Thor's.

Natasha met Clint's gaze quickly, stationing herself possessively at his side, stiff and ready to spring at a moment's notice. To her surprise however, Steve and Thor pushed through the throng of agents as well to take protective stances in front of the pair of assassins. Only Bruce stayed behind, not wanting to get into the middle of things for good reason.

Steve cast a quick glance back to Natasha, giving her a slight nod before he narrowed his eyes and turned back to the agents, as one that Natasha recognized as Agent Napier spoke up stiffly to answer Fury's still hanging question.

"Barton's a traitor, sir, he killed a lot of good SHIELD agents. He never had to answer for his actions." the tall, dark haired agent said stiffly, eyes narrowing into a glare at the sight of Clint being protected by the other three Avengers.

"The Hawk's actions were not his own." it was Thor that spoke up, his voice grave and a touch warning.

"Napier, if I thought Barton had done anything wrong, I would have seen to him myself." Fury spat out, crossing his arms over his chest. "You are all very much out of line. I don't _like_ internal tension. So what the _hell_ were you dumb shits trying to do?"

"Probably kill me, sir." Clint spoke up, his voice completely toneless, stepping up to stand in the gap between Steve and Thor, Natasha moving with him instinctually. "I don't think they took well to the warning I gave Tena."

"Which would be what?" Fury demanded, turning his eyes to Barton, who responded easily.

"That I was done putting up with their crap and that if any of them came at me again, I was going to put them into the infirmary."

"You mean to tell me this has happened before?" the SHIELD director growled, his eye widening, and Clint's jaw clenched slightly, which was all the answer that he needed. Even so, Natasha spoke up as well.

"They've been attacking him since the incident happened." she informed Fury in a matter of fact tone, and everyone's eyes turned to her, Steve's and Thor's gazes appropriately horrified.

"Natasha." Clint muttered quietly, looking to her, but she returned his gaze easily, without a hint of remorse for what she had said.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Fury said in a low, dangerous voice, turning to the grouped agents.

"I wish she was, but with the guilt complex Barton's had since day one, I really don't think she is." they all turned in shock to where Tony was now slowly shouldering his way through to his agents, dragging Bruce with him. "Sorry, I'm a little slower than the rest of the class."

"Stark, what are you doing?" Steve demanded, glancing to Bruce who looked both worried and exasperated.

"Me? I'm currently trying to figure out how long it would take to amass enough blackmail material to ruin any of these assholes' chances at a professional career anywhere but some fast food joint." the billionaire said matter of factly, looking utterly exhausted but moving to stand defiantly with the rest of his team, glaring at the amassed group of agents, who had all adopted wary expressions. "The answer: Not that long at all."

"You should have stayed in bed." Clint spoke up with a frown, but Tony just scoffed.

"And you, Featherhead, shouldn't have let these ignorant Neanderthals use you as a punching bag." he said lightly, casting a pointed glance to Clint, who scowled. "Quite the intelligent pair we make. I mean honestly," Tony's gaze quickly turned from Clint, to the other agents. "Do you idiots have any idea what it's like to have your grapefruit invaded by a psychotic demi-god? No? Well neither do I, but I highly doubt it's a pleasant experience. Barton's no more responsible for that attack than any of you. He couldn't have prevented it. He couldn't have stopped it. You want someone to blame? Blame Loki."

The hanger was completely silent after Tony's outburst, and the billionaire gave a snort of contempt. He was trying desperately to hide the shakes his body had taken up due to his sudden movement and use of his still strained muscles. His ribs were making their displeasure known in the form of a deep, searing pain that he was staunchly refusing to acknowledge.

"I want all of your asses up to my office. Now." Fury was the one to break the silence, not speaking to the Avengers, but to the rest of the crowded agents. "Hill, get medical down here for the ones Barton managed to knock out."

"Yes, sir." Hill's voice came from the back of the group and Steve looked to Fury as well, eyes still narrowed slightly.

"I think we're going home, director." the Captain's voice was hard, and Fury just nodded to them once.

Clint's eyes were lowered slightly as he followed Tony and Thor, who were leading the way to the air strip so they could take a Quinjet back to New York. Natasha was still positioned firmly at his side, while Bruce trailed behind them, still silent and tense. Steve had gone back to Tony's infirmary room to grab the teams' belongings that had accumulated over the last week, and Pepper, who by now would probably be very angry at Tony for slipping out while she talked to his doctor.

"Don't get like that, Clint." Natasha murmured in his ear as they walked, causing him to stiffen slightly. Even so, he didn't respond, making his partner sigh.

It didn't take them long to find a Quinjet and pilot that was willing to take them to New York. Tony collapsed carefully onto a bench as soon as he was able, hissing quietly as the movement jostled his ribs.

"You shouldn't have been walking around that much." Bruce chastised quietly, clearly disapproving as he glanced between both Tony and Clint, who had sat on the other bench and was still refusing to look at any of them.

Tony just flashed the doctor a scowl and jerked his head slightly at the archer pointedly, just as both Steve and Pepper approached the jet, walking up the ramp quickly.

"Tony, what were you thinking?" Pepper demanded, not at all pleased, just as Tony had expected.

"Pep, I'm fine, promise. It's not like I wasn't going to be walking out of there anyway." Tony said dismissively, and smirking slightly when she gave a huff but just sat down beside him.

Steve quickly told the pilot they were ready to leave, before he sat the few duffels he'd brought from Tony's room in a corner of the jet in front of the benches.

Through the entirety of take-off they were all silent, and only after they were in the air and at least ten miles out from the helicarrier did Steve speak up, his voice quiet and questioning.

"Clint, why didn't you tell us?" the Captain asked, standing off a few feet to the archer's side. Everyone's eyes turned to the archer to await his response, all frowning in some fashion when they saw that he'd drawn his knees up to his chest and had draped his arms across them, still refusing to meet any of their gazes.

"Because it wasn't a big deal." Clint responded tonelessly, and Tony scoffed loudly as Natasha sighed, Bruce's eyes narrowed, Steve blinked in surprise, and Thor's frown deepened. Pepper didn't seem to understand what they were talking about, but at that point no one was going to explain it.

"Friend Hawk, if you required assistance-," Thor started, but Clint cut him off sharply.

"I didn't require assistance, Thor." he spat out. "Look, just drop it, alright? What's done is done. I'm fine, leave it alone."

"No." Tony spoke up stubbornly from where he sat across from the archer. "Why the hell did you even _stay_ there for the past week if you knew all they were going to do was try to go after you? That's stupid, Barton, and you're obviously not 'fine'. Because Fury would have noticed an increase of agents in medical since Loki if you had been defending yourself the entire time. So I'm guessing you haven't, which means you were letting them throw you around. In no way is that 'fine'."

Clint narrowed his eyes as he stared pointedly at his knees, his jaw clenching as he offered no protest to the billionaire's words.

"Clint, you didn't deserve that." Steve said quietly when no one else moved to speak. "Under normal circumstances, you aren't one that would need to be protected by any of us, we know that. But we would still do it, whether or not you wanted us to."

"I mean, hell, Barton, you got shot coming to save my sorry ass." Tony said, his voice quieting into a more serious tone. "If you can do that for me, why can't I kick someone's ass for you? Granted, not at the moment, but it's more of the principle of the thing that I'm going for, here."

Clint actually snorted at that, finally looking up and around at all of them.

After a few long minutes of silence, he let out a long sigh and slowly relaxed, dropping his legs and lowering his arms to his sides.

"Thanks." he said simply, a small smirk forming on his face.

"That's what a team's for." Steve said matter of factly, unconsciously repeating the same words he'd said to Tony. Even if the Captain didn't realize it, Tony did.

The billionaire gave a bright, knowing grin and a quiet chuckle before he relaxed back against the side of the jet and looked around himself. He'd never considered himself a people person, never letting anyone but Pepper and Rhodey close enough to know the real Tony Stark.

He was beginning to see that he was going to need to make five exceptions to that rule.

* * *

**And there we have it. The longest chapter. By a lot, actually. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it, and please feel free to leave me a review. The last chapter will be up soon.  
~Dogstar**


	9. Chapter 9

**Alright, everyone, may I present you with the last and final chapter of Home Sweet Home. I hope you've had as much fun reading it as I have writing it. I'd like to thank everyone that has reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story for their support and feed back, it really means a lot to me.**

**A lot of you seem disappointed that this is ending, and I'd like to remind you that this is not the end to the series/universe thing I've been writing that includes both this story, as well as Protective Reasoning. The next story is going to be the sequel to Protective Reasoning, but isn't going to be the Clint/Natasha one (Glass) I have up on my profile. Instead, I've decided to stick a story between the two, called Ties that Bind, which is next on my list to write. Glass will be coming directly after that one instead. And I appologize to anyone that's been waiting to read Glass since I put up the option in Protective Reasoning, and I _swear _it will be coming after Ties that Bind. I'll put a little short summary at the end of this chapter.**

**And I sincerely apologize if the bits of Russian I use in this chapter are incorrect. I use an online translator, and those are never the most reliable. **

**At any rate, I hope you enjoy this last chapter of Home Sweet Home.**

**As always, I own nothing.**

* * *

Two weeks later, on July 4th, the Avengers minus Clint had all gathered in the common area outside their rooms just as the sun dipped under the horizon. The group of five had been doing press conference after press conference all day, due to the holiday, but seeing as it was also their Captain's birthday, they had all drawn the line at continuing to join the city's festivities into the night. Then there was the fact that none of them were exactly comfortable with fireworks. If asked, Tony had thrown out that their go-to excuse in this instance would be Bruce, and the Hulk's dislike for loud, sudden noises.

The doctor had blushed heavily the first time the billionaire had thrown that out there, but it had only _taken_ once, and the question had never been asked again.

In the two weeks since they'd left the helicarrier, Tony had almost completely healed with the only complaint he threw out was that his ribs occasionally ached. His personality had, in some cases regrettably, returned to normal. To their collective knowledge, he'd never spoken about what he'd been through in Nevada to anyone, not even Pepper, who was currently leaning into the billionaire's side with a smile.

Fury had been… _peeved_, by Barton's parting shot at the compound, citing all the lost potential information they could have gathered about the terrorist cell as a whole, but Steve had been quick to back the archer's actions. In a split-second decision that had surprised everyone, even himself, he had lied and firmly stated that he had authorized Hawkeye's actions before he'd loosed the arrow, and Fury had glowered but said nothing more on the subject. Other than that, the cell hadn't been active since by SHIELD's knowledge, which Tony had taken to keeping close track of.

At his first opportunity back in his lab, Tony had taken three days and worked on nothing but improvements to JARVIS' systems, making sure that _no one_ short of himself, and possibly Bruce would ever be able to hack the AI's mainframe again. He had thrown out the idea of implanting tracking devices into each of the Avengers, but had yet to receive anything but alarmed stares in response. He wasn't giving up, though.

"I still can't believe Captain America and America share the same birthday." Tony sniggered from where they were all seated around the couches, and facing the TV.

For his birthday, Steve had requested nothing more than a quiet night in with the team; dinner and a movie as it were. They'd even graciously allowed him to pick the movie. Thus, the title screen for _'The Wizard of Oz'_ was ready and waiting on Stark's enormous TV, and there was a platter piled with cheeseburgers and a literal basket of fries sitting on the coffee table between all of them.

"I mean, did they change it on paper after they gave you the serum?" Tony questioned curiously, and Steve gave a slight sigh as he met the billionaire's gaze, leaning forward to grab a few fries from the basket.

"No, Tony, my birthday has always been the 4th of July." he said patiently, sharing an exasperated and amused glance with Bruce who simply shrugged from around his burger, eyes bright.

"Was that a considering factor?" the billionaire questioned next, and it was Natasha that raised an eyebrow and spoke that time.

"Of course, Stark. I'm sure when considering people for the biggest scientific breakthrough the world had ever seen, they paid specific attention to their _birthdays_." she said in a dry condescending tone that had Tony crossing his arms defensively.

"Hey. It was a valid question." he protested, giving a scoff at the assassin's huff of annoyance.

"Has anyone heard from the Hawk in recent past?" Thor spoke up, changing the topic of conversation to the reason they were simply waiting as opposed to actually watching the movie they had ready.

Clint had been called out by Fury for a mission nearly a week ago, almost directly after Natasha had returned from one of her own. The archer had promised to do his best to be back in time to celebrate the Captain's birthday with them, but they all knew that planning anything around an assassin's mission was nearly impossible. Steve just didn't want him rushing anything, and had made Clint promise not to do so.

Even so, everyone but Natasha was beginning to get edgy over how long the Hawk had been gone, despite the Russian assassin's assurances that a week on a mission wasn't that atypical. In fact, she remembered Clint telling her that this mission had a two week window, not that he ever used up an entire window for a mission.

"Not since the secure call he got through two days ago." Natasha said, before shooting a quick glance at Steve. "He'd be here if he could, Cap."

"I know that." Steve gave a quick nod, understanding the archer's absence completely.

"Well, we'll start the movie then, as long as no one objects." Tony said, raising a questioning eyebrow. When no one spoke up, he opened his mouth to tell JARVIS to go ahead and press play when there was a silent, nearly inaudible shifting of metal above them that caused everyone to pause warily.

Not thirty seconds later, they all relaxed with grins as none other than their former topic of conversation dropped from the air vent just to the left of the kitchen, quiver and bow slung over his back and carrying what looked like a white bakery box.

"I'm beginning to think you think my elevators aren't good enough for you." Tony said matter of factly, though his grin was just as happy as the rest of the team's.

"I was on the opposite side of the roof." the archer shrugged, and Bruce raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Can I ask why you were on the roof period?" the doctor asked mildly as Clint moved to set the bakery box down on the kitchen counter before he turned and looked to Bruce with a disbelieving expression.

"Right. Because I'm going to get a cab in New York City on the Fourth of July dressed like this. Tell you what, Bruce, why don't you try, and see how fast the SWAT team shows up." he said dryly, causing everyone to laugh, seeing as the archer was still in his SHIELD uniform, with various seen and unseen weapons on his person.

"Point made." Bruce chuckled and Clint gave a slight nod, before he stripped himself of his bow and quiver and moved over to the couches.

"Happy Birthday, Cap." he said with a grin, which Steve was quick to return as Clint snagged a burger and plopped down onto one of the couches beside Natasha, who scanned her eyes up and down him once critically, before giving a small smile and leaning up against him.

"Thanks." the super soldier said sincerely, still smiling slightly. "How'd the-," he couldn't even finish the question before archer cut him off, burger halfway to his mouth.

"No. Bad Steve." he said shortly, though his eyes were bright with amusement and he jerked his head towards the TV. "Start the movie."

"You heard the man, JARVIS." Tony grinned, leaning back into the couch as Steve gave Clint a slightly exasperated expression, tossing a fry at him in a rare display of childish antics.

Clint just caught it with a smirk and popped it into his mouth, giving the Captain a smug glance.

Out of all of them, Thor and Natasha were the only ones that hadn't seen the movie, the latter coming as a slight surprise to everyone but Clint. Even so, they all enjoyed it, even admittedly Tony, who was polite enough not to complain about the film's quality the entire time.

After it was over, the once formidable piles of food had been decimated, a singular burger and a few stray fries remaining. As a group, they then presented Steve with his presents, which had thrown the Captain off guard at first, since he hadn't actually been _expecting_ anything.

Together, Bruce and Tony had worked on a new suit for the super soldier, with the same design but an all new material that by Tony's words would: 'protect him from anything and everything, including but not limited to bullets and mutant wolf claws'.

Natasha, Thor, and Pepper had thrown in together to get Steve a collection of sketch books, pencils and other art supplies that they had seen him using around the tower before.

Steve had taken everything with almost blushing gratitude, which just made Tony start ribbing him relentlessly, until Clint held up a hand, accompanied with a level look at the billionaire before he spoke.

"Right well, you all know that I have this habit of finding the best places to eat ever," Clint started, but Tony just groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Barton, we do not need another story about some soup you found in Peru." the billionaire complained, but the archer just raised an eyebrow.

"Stark, one more word, and I will make sure that if Steve decides to share, you won't get any." Clint said matter of factly and that had Tony scowling but falling silent, much to the amusement of everyone else. "Anyway, I found this bakery in Brooklyn that I'm pretty sure has been there _forever_ maybe literally, and this is no exaggeration. I've been in there a few times over the years when I'm in the city, got to talking with the owners, who then got me talking to their grandmother who, I shit you not, is 102 years old."

At this point, Steve was slightly wide-eyed, recognition and hesitant disbelief in his eyes. Natasha had raised an eyebrow at him in what he recognized as slight amusement, and Bruce, Thor and Pepper were listening attentively. Even Tony had lost his aggravation and was reluctantly curious.

"One thing leads to another, and she's telling me about this scrawny little kid she remembers." Clint then broke his impassive expression to give Steve a smirk, the Captain now shaking his head in amazement. The archer stood fluidly and grabbed the box he'd come in with from the kitchen counter. "This scrawny little kid happened to have a favorite kind of cake from that bakery. Just to be honest, this is probably the nicest old lady I have ever met. If I wasn't here, they were going to deliver it for me, but luckily enough, I got back in time."

He offered the box to Steve who took it carefully, a wistful grin on his face.

"Clint, this is…" he started as he took the lid off the box to reveal the simple, circular cake inside.

"Hmm, yeah, I know I'm awesome." the archer grinned, though he did give the Captain a slight nod, conveying that he did in fact know how much his gift was appreciated.

"So that's why you had us 'conveniently forget' a cake." Bruce said mildly, and Clint nodded.

"Yep. Gold star to the doc." he said airily, causing Bruce to narrow his eyes slightly before lobbing a pillow not at all discretely at the archer. "Hey!"

They all laughed, and Steve moved to the kitchen to cut and then pass out pieces of the cake, light, teasing banter popping up between them easily.

"So," Tony started after they'd all settled with pieces of cake, looking to Steve curiously. "Say this was still the 40's. What birthday would you be looking at?"

"24." Steve replied easily with a small smile, which just had Clint's eyes widening comically.

"Holy crap, Steve. You're younger than I am." he said, surprised, which had the rest of the team, and Pepper, straightening with interest.

"It's surprising, Legolas, but not _that_ surprising." Tony said doubtfully, but Clint just shrugged, giving his head a slight shake. "I mean come on, what are you? 28? 29?"

"I thought you read my file?" Clint asked curiously, but the billionaire shrugged as Natasha's eyes brightened with laughter.

"I read, or tried to read, the important bits. It was more like trying to listen to a satellite feed during a thunderstorm. How much of your file is redacted exactly?" Tony questioned.

"77% last time I checked." Clint said, one eyebrow arching as he twirled his fork in one hand. "I'm 25, Stark."

A somewhat shocked silence fell over the group, though Thor seemed somewhat confused, and Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Bull shit." Tony said quickly, narrowing his eyes at the archer. "You said you'd been with SHIELD seven years." he said, as if those words automatically tipped the argument in his favor.

"I did." Clint agreed slowly, as if talking to a small child.

"You're telling me you were with SHIELD at eighteen, and a good enough contract assassin at seventeen to get on their radar." Tony deadpanned, though it seemed Bruce and Steve had already come to that conclusion themselves, while Pepper gave a small gasp of surprise.

"I was about a month out from my nineteenth birthday when I was recruited." Clint gave a slight nod, his eyes darkening slightly, though a smirk formed on his face. "And I was good enough at sixteen to be an Army sharpshooter. Come on, Stark this is me we're talking about."

Once again, everyone was silent at this new revelation, and Thor finally spoke up with his question, voice confused as he looked around at them.

"I do not understand. Is the Hawk's age young by Midgardian standards?" the demi-god asked with a frown, and it was Clint himself who responded easily.

"Typically, a person is an adult at eighteen." he explained and Thor tilted his head slightly to the side.

"So it is unusual for someone to become an assassin at your skill at such a young age?" the demi-god asked, and Clint cast one slightly amused glance around at his still-surprised teammates before he responded.

"Yeah."

"You know, I was going to sate my curiosity and ask how you got into the Army two years early, and not get caught, but I think I'm going to hold off on that, because I _might_ not want to know." Tony said lightly, and Clint smirked and nodded.

"Good choice." he agreed.

Later that night, once the fireworks had long ended, Clint found himself on the expansive balcony off the top floor of the tower, arms wrapped around the railing with his legs dangling over the side. He was well aware that it was past midnight, and he was legitimately exhausted from his mission, but still he didn't find himself able to sleep.

He stiffened automatically when he felt more than heard someone come up behind him, only to relax when Natasha sat silently beside him, leaning her back against his side and turning her head so her gaze followed his down over the city as he easily intertwined his arm with hers.

"Вы имели кошмар?" (Did you have a nightmare?) she asked quietly after a few moments of silence, but Clint just shook his head slightly, before leaning it down on his arms.

"Нет сегодня вечером я только не могу спать." (No, tonight I just can't sleep.) he told her dryly, looking over the city that still was nowhere close to quiet, despite the hour.

"Каким был ваш миссии?" (How was your mission?) she asked next, and Clint gave a slight shrug.

"Моя цель была умнее, чем директор ожидается его. К счастью, я был еще умнее." (My target was smarter than the Director expected him to be. Luckily, I was still smarter.) the archer told her before he smiled slightly. "Но я рад, что мне удалось получить назад во времени для сегодня вечером." (But I'm glad I was able to get back in time for tonight.)

"Это были мы." (So were we.) Natasha told him with a slight smile, looking like she was going to continue. Before she could, however, the balcony door opened, Tony's voice floating over to them.

"I hope this isn't a private party."

Looking around, Clint raised an eyebrow as he saw Tony, Bruce, Steve and Thor all approaching. Stark was carrying a small cooler under one arm, while Bruce and Steve followed slightly behind, the latter carrying what looked like a board game box, while the former held a box or two of snacks. Thor brought up the rear, his arms laden with pillows and blankets, which he then proceeded to drop beside Clint as the archer turned around to face them, expression shrewd.

"What are you guys doing out here?" he asked, sharing a quick glance with Natasha, only to see the same questions in her eyes.

"Well, turns out none of us could sleep. And it's a nice night, now that all the explosions are over with. Seriously, I think I'm going to invent a silent firework, just to prove I can." Tony said absentmindedly as he too lowered himself down to sit on the balcony, though not as close to the edge as Clint and Natasha were.

Within minutes, they'd all gotten comfortable sitting on blankets and leaning against pillows, drinks and snacks having been passed around.

"The Lady Jane has begun to teach me about your planets' constellations." Thor was the first to speak up, the demi-god laying back and looking up to the sky. "I regret to say that I have not yet learned all the stories."

"You can't really see them that well in a city like this." Bruce pointed out, looking up as well. "But I guess ours would be very different from the stars you can see from Asgard."

"Very." Thor agreed with a slight nod, before they all fell silent.

Seeing as they were in the presence of Tony Stark, however, it was a given that it wasn't going to last that long.

"Right, so, just so everyone knows, this was the Captain's idea." the billionaire said lightly, leaning back and grabbing the box Steve had brought out.

"Monopoly?" Clint asked with a slight grin and a raised eyebrow, and Steve just shrugged with an almost embarrassed smile.

"I actually know how to play this one." he admitted, while they all sat up and moved closer to make a circle.

"I am afraid, my friends, that this is one Migardian pastime that I have yet to be introduced to." Thor informed them, gazing curiously at the box as Tony opened it and unfolded the board and Bruce reached over and grabbed the pieces, offering them to the rest of the group.

"It's not that hard to learn." Bruce told him reassuringly as they all picked up one of the small metal game pieces, and Tony started counting and handing out their starting money.

Clint wasn't quite sure when he started to relax and laugh along with the others, the tension leaving his back and shoulders. Probably sometime between Natasha and Thor getting into a heated argument over who in fact owned the fourth railroad, and Bruce somehow finding a way to make Tony bankrupt.

Seeing Stark's spluttering, horrified face, and Bruce's smug smirk had sent everyone into hysterics.

It was nearing four in the morning by the time they finished the game, Bruce obviously having become the victor, seeing as he had managed to combine his and Tony's sizable fortunes. They packed it back into the box before sitting back in a comfortable silence that even Tony seemed content to let continue.

One by one they drifted off, listening to the quiet, eclectic selection of music JARVIS was playing over the speakers. At the point that Thor fell into sleep, the demi-god's snores almost drowned out the sounds from the speakers.

Clint smiled down at where Natasha had already fallen into her typical light sleep on his arm, tucked into his side. He was happy that she was starting to relax around the team just like he had, acting more like Natasha and less like the Black Widow. Trust was just as much a feat for her as it was for him, maybe even more so.

Even with the sound of Thor snoring, and of someone moving restlessly across from him, Clint felt himself falling into sleep more contentedly than he had in a long time.

Surprisingly enough, it was Tony that woke first the next morning, groaning quietly as he raised his hand to shield his eyes from the far too bright sun.

"JARVIS, kill the sun." he muttered, shoving the edge of his pillow over his eyes as well as his hand.

'_I'm sorry, sir, but you are currently outside at the moment. I cannot 'kill the sun' as you put it.' _JARVIS responded dryly and Tony instantly frowned, his hand moving.

"Hold up, I'm where?" he asked quickly, shooting up into a sitting position and looking around quickly, almost instantly relaxing when he realized what had happened and giving a quiet chuckle as he shook his head.

They were still more or less in the circle they'd fell asleep in the night before, Bruce to his left and sleeping peacefully on his side. Then came the two assassins, Clint closest to him with his arms wrapped almost protectively around Natasha, who was tucked into his side, seeming smaller than ever. The billionaire realized just how much more vulnerable they both looked when sleeping. Thor was next around the circle, sprawled out on his stomach and snoring loud enough that he couldn't see how any of them had slept. Steve completed the circle, the super soldier's huge form actually curled around a pillow.

Tony frowned slightly, knowing now that the Captain _was_ in fact younger than all of them, and seeing it more pronounced now than he had ever before.

He jumped nearly three feet in the air when he heard someone clear their throat behind him, and spinning around in alarm to see Nick Fury leaning in the doorway to the tower, watching them in amusement.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eye, I'm not sure I would have believed it." the SHIELD director said matter of factly, raising an eyebrow as Tony groaned.

"How the hell did you even get up here?" Tony demanded, falling back and blinking upside down at Fury, even though he already knew the only way it could have happened. Pepper.

"Ms. Potts let me up." Fury confirmed Tony's suspicions. "After, of course, I promised not to wake any of you."

Tony snorted wordlessly, before poking Steve in the side to wake him and grabbing a spare pillow, which he then flung in the general direction of Bruce's face.

A split second before the pillow would have landed squarely on the doctor's face, Clint's hand shot between the two, making Tony gape in shock at the still seemingly asleep archer's reaction time.

"That's not how you wake up Banner." Barton scolded lightly, his words more of a mumble than a fully articulated sentence. He then proceeded to lightly tug the pillow out of Tony's slack grip and drop it over his own face to shield it from the bright sun.

"Oh, uh…. Good morning, sir." Steve faltered, having fully awoken and moved to sit up, only to notice Fury and freeze in surprise, eyes widened.

At those words, Clint half lifted the pillow, one eye blinking out from beneath it. He saw Fury and couldn't help giving a slight groan, lightly shaking Natasha, having already discreetly pulled his arm out from beneath her. He needn't have bothered, seeing as her eyes had snapped open at Steve's words as well.

At the same time, Tony had moved to prodding Bruce awake, causing incoherent grumbles from the doctor before he finally woke, eyeing Tony's amused expression in confusion.

"Will someone please wake up Goldilocks before he blows the house down?" Tony demanded, and Bruce snorted as he rolled into a sitting position, shaking his head as if to clear it.

"I'm pretty sure you combined fairy tales there, Tony." the doctor pointed out mildly, but the billionaire just shrugged as he ran a hand down his face and pushed himself to his feet.

"Who cares?" he shrugged, watching as Steve moved to wake up Thor while Clint and Natasha moved to stand with Tony and Bruce, their eyes on where Fury was waiting at the door.

In ten minutes, they'd all made their way inside and had been supplied with coffee at Tony's insistence before Steve turned to Fury and asked the question on all of their minds.

"What can we do for you, director?" the Captain asked carefully, and Fury turned to him as all the Avengers looked over, interested.

"Well, Agent Barton was in the wind last night before he could be properly debriefed." the director told them, not at all sounding pleased by the archer's actions. "So I thought I'd come down today and get that over with, before he could run off somewhere else."

"Sorry, sir, I had something I had to pick up." Barton told him, though he didn't seem to actually be apologetic.

"I'm sure. Stark, do you have a room Agent Barton and I could use for his debriefing?" Fury turned to Tony, who barely looked up from his cup of coffee.

"JARVIS?" he asked pointedly, and the AI responded quickly.

'_Director Fury, there is a free meeting room on the 68__th__ floor of the tower, room 47.'_ JARVIS said easily, and Fury nodded shortly, moving to the elevator and jerking his head for Clint to follow.

"Who here agrees with me that waking up to him standing over us was freaking creepy?" Tony questioned, receiving nods or snorts of amused agreement from everyone.

* * *

A good hour later, Clint slipped from the air vent and into the rafters above the training gym, knowing by JARVIS' information that the rest of the team was currently in there. Looking down, he saw Thor's increasingly frustrated form trying to land any sort of blow on Natasha's flitting form. While Steve flat out refused to spar with Natasha, unable to shake his 'old fashioned' morals, Thor didn't have that problem. He had only once managed to land a hit on her, but they all knew and could tell that the demi-god never fought with all his strength with anyone, even Steve.

The Captain was currently coaching Tony on a punching bag, and Bruce was standing near a wall, looking like he didn't really want to be there.

Carefully, Clint moved to a position where he was above the doctor before he lowered himself down, keeping a careful eye on the rest of them to make sure he wasn't noticed. He wasn't worried. He was _very_ good at being invisible.

"Just wanted to give you fair warning so you don't Hulk out on me when I start Tony's training unexpectedly." he murmured, flashing a smirk when the doctor looked to him in shock.

"Ah, good plan." Bruce returned just as quietly, though his expression had changed to one of slight amusement as well. Clint had made sure that everyone knew about his and Tony's deal, mostly to make sure the billionaire didn't back out of it once he was better.

He knew from what Natasha had told him about her mission as Stark's assistant that he had taken some self-defense training before, and he was curious to see just how far that went. The thought of Tony being unable to protect himself didn't appeal to him at all, and he was going to make damn sure that the man stood a fair chance against a thug without his suit as well as with it.

Bruce appropriately warned, he leapt back up into the rafters and moved instead to a position right above the unsuspecting billionaire and waited for a good time to strike. He smirked when Tony took a small step back from the punching bag before throwing an errant comment to Steve.

In the next moment, Clint had tucked in on himself and dropped, landing in a graceful crouch and kicking Tony's knees lightly out from under him and catching one arm to pin behind him, pulling the older man against him before he could fall.

He felt Tony freeze in shock and fear, and all other action in the gym stopped suddenly to watch.

"What's your first instinct?" Clint asked simply in Tony's ear, feeling the billionaire relax only a fractional amount when his voice was recognized.

"Truthfully? To piss my pants. What the hell, Barton?" he demanded but Clint wasn't amused at this point, his eyes narrowing.

"In the time it took you to say that, I could have killed you six-," he was pleasantly surprised when Tony's free elbow flew back into his stomach, causing him to huff slightly, and he loosened his grip on Tony's arm, more as a conscious response than because the blow had forced him to.

Tony pulled away instantly and spun to face him, eyes narrowed. The flurry of punches that followed were expected and Clint ducked and weaved out of the way of them easily. It was clear that Tony was very offensive in his attacks, though there did at least seem to be a rhyme to his reason that Clint was able to pick up on fairly quickly. The archer purposefully left areas open to attack a few times to see if the man would pick up on them, nodding to himself when blows quickly and precisely flew to those areas. It wasn't that Stark was incompetent. He just needed refinement to his technique. The first time a kick was aimed to his head, Clint reached out and caught the offending limb instead of simply dodging it, speaking to Tony as he did.

"Alright, Stark, not nearly as horrible as I was expecting." he straightened, releasing Tony's ankle as he did now that he'd made it clear the blows were done for the moment. He didn't let the billionaire bask in the compliment for long however, continuing almost as soon as the smug grin appeared. "But at the rate that was going, you would have worn yourself out before I'd even started my own attack. You may be bigger than me, but you're not always going to be the bigger guy. Your strikes have to be quick, precise, and aimed at an area where they are going to do the most damage so you're not expending useless energy."

The grin had fallen off of Tony's face, and he wasn't sure he liked being on this side of the archer's predatorial focus. Even so, he was taking in his words seriously, knowing that Clint would never do anything to hurt him. Scare the crap out of him, yes. Hurt him, no.

"But just as importantly as throwing the punches, is that you need to be able to put up a strong enough defense that you're able to last to the point where you can take your opponent down. So I'm going to throw a few punches. Block them." Clint said, and Tony blinked in surprise.

"Wait, that's all the instruction I-… Shit."

The billionaire ducked instantly around the fist swung at his temple, bringing up his arms to protect his chest next to block the next flurry of punches aimed at his chest. And he completely didn't see the closed fist heading for his side until it hit him.

He gave a slight gasp but scowled at Clint's raised and questioning eyebrow.

"Unless you're a bobble head, Stark, you can move more than your head." he said dryly, before spinning around and aiming a kick at Tony's lower back.

Tony twisted out of the way and so that he was facing Clint again, eyes narrowed. He threw a quick punch to the archer's shoulder more along the lines to just prove he could, only to realize his mistake when Barton reflexively grabbed his arm at the wrist and elbow and flipped him onto his back on the mat they were standing on.

"I think I said 'block'." Clint told him mildly, still keeping his hold on Tony's arm as he crouched at the billionaire's side. "The 'dodge' was implied. I don't remember mentioning anything about 'attack'."

"Didn't seem fair that you got to have all the fun." Tony muttered rebelliously, giving the archer a slight glare, that didn't seem to faze him in the slightest.

"These," Clint gave Tony's arm a light shake before nudging his leg for emphasis. "Are always going to be used against you. The smaller you make yourself out to be, the tighter you keep your limbs pulled in, the less of a target your enemies have to do what I just did."

"Throw me on the ground like a sack of potatoes?" Tony questioned lightly and Clint smirked.

"Exactly." the archer responded in kind before releasing his hold on Tony's arm and offering a hand to help him up instead.

They started again only a few moments later, Tony concentrating more now, and beginning to fall into a rhythm of blocking, twisting and ducking. True, Clint still managed to land his fair share of blows, and he was completely sure his forearms and sides were going to be bruised later, but it was different. He could tell he was learning how to judge the speed, strength and placement of a blow to know how it would best be avoided. He could see Clint was putting more into what he was doing now than he had in the beginning, and he hadn't ended up on the floor again yet.

He was tiring though, sweat running down his temples and into his eyes. He smirked to himself when he saw an opening Clint had left when aiming a kick at his temple. Deciding to act on it, Tony swiped a leg against the back of the archer's left leg, the only one currently on the ground, and sent him sprawling.

A triumphant smirk instantly formed on his face and he caught one of Clint's arms before it could get beneath him to break his fall, pinning it behind him. He heard the archer's surprised huff as he slammed into the ground, and wasn't expecting the younger man to tangle their legs quickly, before jerking himself up and around, freeing his arm with one careful, practiced twist and spinning around. Tony wasn't sure how exactly he landed on his back with Clint's knee resting lightly on his chest, but he was well aware that he had gone from winning to losing in a matter of moments.

"Son of a bitch." he groaned, but Clint just laughed.

"I knew you had a brain in there somewhere, Stark, that was good." the archer told him truthfully, and Tony just raised an eyebrow and looked up at him like he was nuts.

"Barton, I know I didn't give you a concussion." he pointed out, but Clint just shook his head, lightly stepping off the billionaire.

"Your typical thug isn't going to be able to manage a move like that, much less without putting their shoulder out. I just didn't want to give your ego another boost."

"You're an asshole." Tony told him matter of factly as he accepted the archer's hand up, grimacing slightly as he did.

"It's been said." Clint shrugged, before looking him up and down. "That's enough for today. Pepper will come after me if I throw your ribs out of whack."

"'M not complaining." Tony muttered, before cutting Clint an amused glance. "You're cooking tonight."

"It's not Wednesday, Stark." Clint pointed out, but Tony waved him off.

"Who cares. You just threw me around the gym for a good hour and a half. You're making dinner."

"In what world would me _training_ you constitute me having to cook for you?" he demanded, completely nonplussed.

"Spaghetti sounds good." Natasha offered from where she was positioned near the range, having been doing some shooting while Tony and Clint trained.

Clint looked around when murmurs of hopeful agreement filled the gym, seeing that everyone, even Bruce, had looked to him with what could almost be called pleading expressions.

"I hate you all." the archer informed them lightly, even though they all knew that that was his agreement.

"No, no, no." Tony told him with a smirk. "If you _hated_ us, we'd be dead."

Clint decided that he didn't actually mind Stark using his own words against him in this case, as he laughed along with everyone else.

* * *

**And there we are. ^^ I hope you enjoyed it. Be on the look out for the first chapter of Ties That Bind to be up in a few days. And, as promised, here's the summary.**

**Ties That Bind  
After the events of Protective Reasoning, the team decides they've earned a well deserved vacation and head out to Malibu for a couple weeks. As they should have expected, however, with the Avengers there can't just be a simple, relaxing vacation. No, no, no. That'd be _much_ too easy.**

**~Dogstar**


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